Tag Archives: Devoured

Webb Observes Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet Devoured by Its Star

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HD 80606b is renowned for its extreme orbit, making it one of the most fascinating exoplanets discovered so far. The James Webb Space Telescope, operated by NASA, ESA, and CSA, captured an incredible moment of the planet as it flared up while approaching its star.

Artist’s impression of the hot Jupiter exoplanet HD 80606b. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

First detected in April 2001, HD 80606b is a highly eccentric exoplanet with a mass approximately four times that of Jupiter.

This alien world resides around 217 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

Classified as a hot Jupiter, it completes an orbit around its parent star HD 80606 approximately every 111 days.

“Hot Jupiters are recognized as some of the most extreme exoplanets, and HD 80606b is certainly one of the most extreme among them,” stated Dr. Tiffany Kataria, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“While we typically imagine hot Jupiters as gas giants close to their stars, HD 80606b’s eccentric orbit presents a unique case.”

As HD 80606b nears its star, its surface temperature skyrockets by around 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prior studies have indicated that these rapid temperature variations can initiate chemical reactions and alter the exoplanet’s cloud formations in real-time.

Due to its dynamic conditions, astronomers consider HD 80606b an optimal target for observing such changes using Webb’s advanced instruments.

“Studying planets like HD 80606b proves efficient since their unusual orbits cause corresponding fluctuations in temperature and chemical composition. This allows us to gather valuable data in just a few hours under varying conditions, which can then be extrapolated to other hot Jupiters and more typical exoplanets,” said Dr. Laura Mayorga from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The researchers utilized Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to monitor HD 80606b during its orbital phases: before, during, and after its closest approach to the star.

At Periastron, the planet also passed behind the star from Webb’s viewpoint, a phenomenon colloquially known as a secondary solar eclipse.

“Dr. Webb revealed that the extent of global warming is even more pronounced than what we observed with Spitzer,” Dr. Kataria remarked.

Scientists will present their findings on June 16th at the 248th American Astronomical Society (AAS) General Meeting in Pasadena, California.

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Tiffany Kataria et al. 2026. Flash heating of burnt planets: Time-resolved characterization of HD 80606b using JWST/MIRI. AAS248 Abstract #426

Source: www.sci.news

A Black Hole Devoured a Star and Then Disappeared.

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This orange dot represents a gamma-ray burst, thought to indicate an extraordinary event.

ESO/A. Levan, A. Martin-Carrillo et al.

A black hole that has consumed a star appears to have avenged itself by devouring the star from within, generating a gamma-ray burst located approximately 9 billion light-years from Earth.

This burst, known as GRB 250702B, was initially identified by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in July. Such bursts are brilliant flashes of light due to jets produced by high-energy occurrences, like massive stars collapsing into black holes or the merging of neutron stars, and generally last only a few minutes.

However, GRB 250702B lasted an astonishing 25,000 seconds, equating to about 7 hours, which makes it the longest gamma-ray burst on record. Researchers have struggled to account for this phenomenon, but Eliza Knights and her team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center propose an unusual and rare scenario.

“The only [model] providing a natural explanation for the characteristics observed in GRB 250702B involves a stellar-mass black hole falling into the star,” the researchers mentioned in their published study.

In a typical long gamma-ray burst, a massive star collapses to create a black hole and emits a jet during its demise. In this situation, however, the research team posits the inverse. An existing black hole spiraled into a companion star, whose outer layers had expanded during its later stages, resulting in the black hole losing angular momentum and descending toward the star’s center.

The black hole then incinerated the star from the inside, producing a powerful jet perceived as GRB 250702B, potentially causing a faint supernova, although it remained too dim for detection at this distance by the James Webb Space Telescope.

This theory is beneficial for understanding the mechanisms behind ultra-long bursts. Hendrik van Eerten from the University of Bath, UK, remarks, “The arguments presented in this paper are very persuasive.”

Knights and her team hope that, with the help of telescopes like the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, we may observe more such events in the future. Meanwhile, van Eerten describes the gamma-ray burst as “absurd.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com