Astronomers discover planet where a year lasts 16 hours

Do you sometimes feel that time is moving painfully slow? That is certainly not the case on a newly discovered planet. There, a year lasts less than a day.

The universe is very large and we only know a very small part of it. Fortunately, astronomers are able to uncover a little more of the great mystery through telescopes. Many planets have been discovered that are still far too far away to visit. So is the latest discovery: planet TO-2109b.

A new planet

Of course, we all know the planets in our solar system, such as Mars, Pluto and Jupiter. Yet there are many other worlds beyond our solar system. In total, more than 4,000 have already been discovered through telescopes. Unfortunately, we don’t know too much about them because they are far away. For example, there are large gas journeys such as Jupiter, but there are also possible exoplanets which may resemble our earth.

Now astrologers have discovered TO-2109b. Life on that planet is not in it, as it is a gas giant like Jupiter. Plus, there’s another sign that makes it unlivable there. It is very hot on the newly discovered planet. The temperature on the surface is 3,226 degrees Celsius, making it almost as warm as a small star.

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A year in 16 hours

The most interesting fact about this planet is that a year lasts only 16 hours. That’s because during that time it makes an entire orbit around its star. As we know, our earth takes 365 days to do this. Scientists believe that orbit decay is causing the planet to slowly move toward the star. As a result, it is possible that it will bump into it one day.

The discovery of the special planet was published last week in the scientific journal Astronomical Journal. The study may also be able to tell more about how the planet is moving further toward the star. They did the research with the NASA TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) satelliet.