In June 2016, scientists announced the discovery of a very young planet – a so-called 'hot Jupiter' – orbiting a 2-miilion-year-old infant star. T


In June 2016, scientists announced the discovery of a very young planet – a so-called 'hot Jupiter' – orbiting a 2-miilion-year-old infant star. The star, a T Tauri variable, is V830 Tau. It spins once upon its axis in only days – compared to around 30 for the Sun. It is highly magnetic, covered in vast 'starspots' and accompanied by powerful flares and prominences, as shown. The planet is around times the mass of Jupiter but far hotter, as it orbits its host star at a distance of just Astronomical Units - a mere seventh of the Sun-Mercury separation. It is possible that the planet's magnetic field may power strong auroral activity, as has been shown to be the case with Jupiter and Saturn.


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Photo credit: © MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: -, artwork, astronomy, aurora, exoplanet, formation, hot, illustration, jupiter, magnetic, magnetism, moon, object, planet, ring, satellite, solar, space, star, stellar, sun, system, tauri, young