Exoplanet HD 189733b
Picture this:
A planet, tidally locked to its star (this means only one side of the planet faces its star).
On the star-side, the surface temperature is 1,700°F.
On the dark-side, the surface temperature is 1,200°F.
Welcome to exoplanet HD 189733b, 63 light years away in the Vulpecula (Fox) constellation.
I expected the temperature disparity from star-side to dark-side to be much more pronounced. Apparently, so do the astrophysicists.
Now, my poetic-souled, sharp-minded friends, without researching it, tell me why it's so warm on the dark side, or, if you'd like to go a more philosophical route, tell me how our light-is-warmth dark-is-cold mentality might blind us from understanding our Foxy celestial neighbors.
My intuitive explanation differed from the one offered by the article "Forbidden Planets: A Whirlwind Tour of the Oddest Exoplanets" by Julie Thole in the Discovery Presents the Whole Universe magazine I've been raving about, though I suspect both are relevant factors.
The light from the star HD 189733 hitting Earth right now was produced two years before my dad was born. The distance is beyond my ken.
A planet, tidally locked to its star (this means only one side of the planet faces its star).
On the star-side, the surface temperature is 1,700°F.
On the dark-side, the surface temperature is 1,200°F.
Welcome to exoplanet HD 189733b, 63 light years away in the Vulpecula (Fox) constellation.
I expected the temperature disparity from star-side to dark-side to be much more pronounced. Apparently, so do the astrophysicists.
Now, my poetic-souled, sharp-minded friends, without researching it, tell me why it's so warm on the dark side, or, if you'd like to go a more philosophical route, tell me how our light-is-warmth dark-is-cold mentality might blind us from understanding our Foxy celestial neighbors.
My intuitive explanation differed from the one offered by the article "Forbidden Planets: A Whirlwind Tour of the Oddest Exoplanets" by Julie Thole in the Discovery Presents the Whole Universe magazine I've been raving about, though I suspect both are relevant factors.
The light from the star HD 189733 hitting Earth right now was produced two years before my dad was born. The distance is beyond my ken.