The unfortunate planet is named Kepler-1658b, after its discovery was due to NASA’s Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009: it was the first candidate for observations made by the telescope, but it took nearly a decade to confirm its existence. Indeed, the ability to detect a planet’s approach to its star required many years of analysis, beginning with Kepler and then continuing with the Hale telescope at California’s Monte Palomar Observatory (run by the California Institute of Technology) and by NASA’s TESS space telescope, launched in 2018.
Kepler-1658b is a hot Jupiter that orbits close to its star in less than 4 days, at a distance not exceeding one-eighth that separates the Sun from Mercury. However, its inevitable fate is approaching at a very slow pace, with its orbit shrinking by about 131 milliseconds per year. The main reason for this phenomenon is tides: the gravitational interaction between two celestial bodies distorts each other’s shapes and causes the release of energy. Depending on the distances and dimensions of the bodies involved, this process can lead to a departure, as in the case of the Earth and the Moon, or to an approach, as in the case of an exoplanet.
Reproduction is reserved © ANSA Copyright
“Internet trailblazer. Travelaholic. Passionate social media evangelist. Tv advocate.”
More Stories
He discovered a gas that only living organisms produce
Long tenures for general managers
NASA's Psyche space probe communicates via laser with Earth from a distance of 226 million kilometers