Oct 12 2006
From The Space Library
Scientists using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) reported the first measurements of day and night temperatures ever made on an extrasolar planet. Previously, astronomers had been able to measure extrasolar planets’ global traits, such as mass and size, but had not been able to measure characteristics of particular portions of those planets. The scientists had observed a Jupiter-like gas giant, called Upsilon Andromedae b, which orbits very close to a star called Upsilon Andromedae. Gas giants are planets composed primarily of gas, rather than solid matter. The astronomers had discovered that Upsilon Andromedae b might be extremely hot on one side and extremely cold on the other. The observed temperature difference of 2,550ºF (1,400ºC) on the planet’s two sides indicates that the planet’s atmosphere absorbs and re-radiates sunlight rapidly, so that that gas circling the planet cools quickly, forming a stratosphere of cool gas.
NASA, “NASA’s Spitzer Sees Day and Night on Exotic World,” news release 06-334, 12 October 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/oct/HQ_06334_spitzer_temps.html (accessed 1 April 2010).
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