Astronomers have learned that a distant planet outside of our solar system has been experiencing extreme temperature swings; Al Gore couldn’t be reached for comment.
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Distant planet has extreme global warming
WASHINGTON — Astronomers have found a planet with a galactic case of hot flashes.In just six hours, this planet four times the size of Jupiter heats up by more than 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a study published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.
“It’s the first observation of changing weather” on a planet outside our solar system, said study author Gregory Laughlin, an astronomy professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He used NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to study the planet.
Change is a mild way to put it for the lifeless world, called HD80606b, where the word “mild” would never enter a weather forecast.
Normally, the planet is a toasty 980 degrees or so. But in the few hours it whips around its sun the planet gets zapped with mega-heat, pushing the thermometer.
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