Astronomers reveal discovery of the hottest gas giant exoplanet known yet

Astronomers at the Ohio State University, Columbus, revealed the discovery of an exoplanet, named KELT-9b and according to the university's astronomy professor Scott Gaudi, it is "the hottest gas giant planet that has ever been discovered".

Artist's impression of KELT-9b orbiting its star, KELT-9. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The astronomers say the planet's surface temperature is more than 4000°C (7232°F), nearly as hot as the Sun. The planet takes about 36 to 48 hours to orbit around its star, KELT-9. KELT-9 is about two and a half times larger than the Sun and nearly twice its temperature.

The star is about 650 light years from the earth, but it is about 300 million years old. KELT-9 is a blue A-type star, which shines brightly but, unlike some other stars such as our own Sun, their life span is on the order of millions rather than billions of years.

Much like the Earth and the Moon, KELT-9b is tidally locked to its star; with one side of the planet always exposed to its star.

Due to tidal locking, the planet's surface temperature facing the star is roughly 4300°C (7772°F), more than the surface temperature of an average Red Dwarf star. Its close proximity to its parent star exposes it to ultraviolet radiation, and according to the calculations, the planet loses planetary material anywhere between ten billion to ten trillion grams each second.

KELT-9 will swell to become a red giant star in a few hundred million years. (Wikinews)

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