HD80606b

In Paris, astronomers have discovered a distant planet for a few hours, burns 1300 degrees Fahrenheit hotter every time its orbit brings it close to its sun. "The results are very exciting because they give us important clues to the atmospheric properties of the planet," says Gregory Laughlin, the leader of a group of researchers in Santa Cruz at the University of California. They have even generated the most realistic image of this exoplanet, which is the term that identifies planets outside of our solar system. They have named this planet HD80606b. In the generated image, one side of the planet is completely red from the scorching of the sun and a very thin blue crescent to show the 'dark' side of the planet, or the side that is unaffected by the sun's heat. "This is the first time that we've detected weather changes in real time on a planet outside our solar system," said Laughlin. HD80606b swings around its sun in an elliptical orbit every 114 Earth days. From the telescope's angle into space, the planet passed behind the sun, something called a secondary eclipse, just before reaching its highest temperature of 2240 Fahrenheit which is hotter than molten lava. I believe that the discovery of this planet is a very interesting one. With no life found in any other planet in our solar system, it is really surprising to find temperature changes on a planet.

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