back to article Tiny fireball exoplanet completes one year in 8.5 hours

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered a new, Earth-sized exoplanet for which orbiting its star is literally all in a day's work. The newly discovered planet, dubbed Kepler 78b, completes one full revolution around its star in just 8.5 hours – fast enough that by the time you clock in at the …

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  1. Herby
    Joke

    Now if just have the...

    Air conditioning concession, I could make zillions.

    Wonder what the "night time" temps are, usually they are a bit colder.

    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      Don't count on it

      The resident silicon based lifeforms would ban your "instruments of terrible freezing death". Of course if they're anything like humans you could still make your zillions.

  2. nanchatte

    hang on...

    Wouldn't a planet that close to a star tend to be tidally locked? In which case one side would bake and one would freeze?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: hang on...

      Tidal locking - yes, I would have thought so to some degree, although it does't have to be a 1:1 lock. A lot depends on orbit shape. Mercury for example is "sort of tidally locked" - it has a stable 3 rotations for every 2 solar orbits; due to it's eccentric orbit this is a stable gravitational resonance point.

      Baking vs Frozen - stick a nice thick frozen burger under a grill and tell me if the underside is frozen after 20 minutes. That close to the star convection through the surface from the light side should outweigh radiant losses from the dark side. The star will be dumping a _lot_ of energy into it and it has to go somewhere.

      Presumably that close to the star it never cooled that much and has stayed pretty close to molten all the way along ...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: hang on...

        One footnote -> if it isn't entirely in a 1:1 orbital tidal lock then the friction of the tide through any rock will itself generate vast amounts of heat. At least one of the moons in our solar system (one of Jupiter's IIRC) has a molten cores long after it should have cooled, and that's entirely down to tidal effects though rock.

      2. TheOtherHobbes

        Re: hang on...

        The surface is probably a metal/carbon/silicon sea, with some very interesting tides and a very busy hot atmosphere.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Flame

          Re: hang on...

          ...and so close to its star, it might even be orbiting within the stars own atmosphere.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Search for Earth II

    It's still in the factory. It'll be delivered once the mice are happy and have paid the final installment.

    Thanks, Slartibartfast.

    1. stucs201

      Re: Search for Earth II

      Also, having the Vogon's explode Earth I first is going to be inconvinient.

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: Search for Earth II

        Having the Vogon's what explode Earth I? Presumably you meant a fleet of impossibly huge yellow somethings which hang in the air in much the same way that bricks don't, but you weren't clear.

        1. stucs201

          Re: Search for Earth II

          Oops. Ah well, at least I didn't post any Vogon poetry.

  4. Blain Hamon
    Joke

    Mandatory XKCD link

    Perfect timing. Today, XKCD posted the list of public suggestions for planet names. http://xkcd.com/1253/

    1. stucs201

      Re: Mandatory XKCD link

      Akima: You can’t call a planet “Bob.”

      Cale: So now you’re the boss. You’re the King of Bob.

      Akima: Can’t we just call it “Earth”?

      Cale: No one said you have to live on Bob.

      Akima: I’m never calling it that.

      Titan A.E.

    2. Steven Roper
      Thumb Up

      Re: Mandatory XKCD link

      e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--

      I see little Bobby Tables has grown up to become an astronomer!

  5. YARR

    Presumably at that distance from it's star, this planet must be locked in a synchronous orbit, and it wouldn't be able to retain an atmosphere. So there must be an intermediate zone on the surface where the star can just be glimpsed on the horizon, perhaps without being cooked?

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Don't know about that. It may well actually have an atmosphere. Of vaporized rock.

      I imagine that some astronomers will be seeking a tail from that planet.

  6. jonfr

    Weather forecast for the next year

    The weather forecast for the next year is, sunny with up to 2000°C (2273.15K) heat and with a chance of molten stuff falling out of the sky.

  7. Interceptor

    I wonder if this little guy is the core of a gas giant that has had all of it's outer atmosphere boiled away due to it's proximity to the star.

  8. Nate Amsden

    need some sunblock 5000

    Just apply a pint to your skin, and your good for hours.

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: need some sunblock 5000

      My good for hours what?

      1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

        Re: need some sunblock 5000

        Funny, that's what your old lady said.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Question: To cool a satellite orbiting somewhere that's very hot could you cool it by converting the heat to laser or radio emissions?

    I'm thinking of the most powerful pirate station that we know of*. I suppose that in orbit around the sun near Mercury you would only be able to receive it on Earth during the daytime.

    *Playing Disaster Area 24/7

  10. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    Stunning feat of measurement.

    It's so close to this sun it completes an orbit in 8 hours.

    Next to a sun that's practically nothing.

    Thumbs up for that feat alone.

    Note at 3000K I think only something like Tungsten is actually solid.

  11. miket82

    Ice pack

    I've got the ice pack concession but I'm open to offers.

  12. technohead95

    "it's incapable of supporting any form of life that we'd understand" excepted cockroaches!!

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