NASA telescopes discover Jupiter-like exoplanet with two seasons in three days

Astronomers, with the help of NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope, have filmed an exoplanet for a full year, which when compared to the Earth doesn’t last very long. Dubbed  XO-3b, the Jupiter-like planet has a year comprising only three Earth days and as scientists say, it has extreme seasons. During an entire year on this exoplanet, it experiences a one-day-long summer season with a three-day-long winter which exhibits temperature variations impossible here on Earth.

Lisa Dang, an astrophysicist at McGill University in Canada and one of the researchers said as per Space.com, “We saw seasonal temperature variations hundreds of times stronger than what we experience on Earth.” Adding that these seasons are not similar to that experienced on our planet, the astronomers revealed that, unlike Earth, XO-3b experiences seasons owing to its oval orbit around its star, which greatly affects the amount of radiation it receives. As known, the seasons on Earth occur due to our planet’s tilt on its axis. 

Following their observation, the scientists also concluded that the planet is relatively new and, in astronomical terms, has just begun orbiting its host star. This is because the experts suggest that a planet the size of XO-3b must have a circular orbit since it experiences extreme gravitational pull owing to the proximity to its host star. 

Scientists say XO-3b might not be planet at all

Although the characteristics of this planet itself are mind-boggling, it is possible that XO-3b might not be a planet at all, the scientists report in their study published in The Astronomical Journal. The reason behind these claims is the detection of strong infrared signatures which were picked by the Spitzer telescope during its observations. The detection of infrared turned crucial as it is the wavelength of light which is also a sign of heat. 

“This extra heating that we saw with Spitzer isn't seasonal, it's seen throughout the year. Our investigation of this hot Jupiter finds that it's heated not only by the nearby planet star, but it's also heated from the interior of the planet’, Space.com reported Dang saying. Owing to the heat, the planet was found to be puffier than expected. These observations were followed by two conclusions which suggest that either this planet is experiencing tidal heating due to the extreme gravitation or is not a planet but a brown dwarf also called “failed stars”.

“XO-3b might not be a regular planet, but it might be not necessarily a failed star yet, but at the peak of its lifetime as a star," Dang said as per Space.com.

(Image: NASA)