2024-01-23 18:15:06
We tend to conceive that hell is under our feet. But what if it were much further away somewhere in space? Okay, it’s clear that hell doesn’t exist. At least not as described in the books. However, an international team of scientists has found a curious exoplanet of a size similar to that of Earth, quite close to our planetary system and with conditions that could resemble those of hell.
It attracts attention for several reasons, although the most striking is the its surface temperatureso extremely high that the metals that compose it are transformed into lava. That’s what makes it look hellish, no doubt. However, it is not the hottest exoplanet that has been detected.
Other astronomers had found exoplanets with even higher temperatures, although with one caveat. Its size was much more different than that of the Earth. This one has many characteristics in common with our planetexcept for that temperature so high that, at most, only the devil himself could live on its surface.
The keys to the new exoplanet
The star HD63433 It has been in the spotlight of scientists for some years, due to its relative proximity (73 light years) and its resemblance to a primitive sun. Its size and mass are very similar to those of our star, but it is much younger, with an age of solo 400 million years. It may seem outrageous to us, but if we take into account that the Sun is 4.5 billion years old we understand how young this star is.
Studying it in depth can help us understand what the early years of our star and, perhaps, the planets that revolve around it. However, the exoplanets that have been found so far in this system have little to do with those in the solar system that we currently know.
The first two were HD63433a and HD63433b. Both are similar in size to Neptune, but they differ in their orbits, so 7.1 and 20.5 days. This means that they move very quickly, if we compare it with the Earth’s orbital period, which is 365 days. As a result, they receive much more solar radiation, so their temperatures are immense, even compared to Mercury, our warmest neighbor.
Now another exoplanet has been found in this system. It has been named as HD63433d and draws attention for having a size similar to that of the Earth. We could also expect a similar orbital period, but this is not the case. yours is from 4.2 days, so it is even faster than its neighbors. And also much warmer.
HD63433 is similar in size to the Sun, but much younger.
In this exoplanet, temperatures of 1.257ºC. This is so much heat that the metals on its surface are melted in the form of lava. All this, at first sight, might seem uninteresting for study, since it is also impossible for it to harbor life.
However, there is something very interesting in this finding. And, although more than 5,000 have already been found since the first exoplanet was discovered in 1992, only 50 of them are less than 500 million years.
This is a perfect opportunity to understand the functioning of a planetary system still in its infancy.
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