On The Surface Of 51 Pegasi b


The planet around 51 Pegasi, a sunlike star some 42 lightyears away, was the first planet found in 1995, which discovery was confirmed beyond any doubt. It orbits surprisingly close to its parent star, only 7 million kilometers or 0.05 AU, so it can be either a gas giant which moved to this strange position from an orbit farther outside, or a supermasive terrestrial planet. The surface temperature was quickly calculated to be araound 1.300°C. If this planet is really terrestrial, its surface would be covered by oceans of liquid aluminium, surrounded by an atmosphere of hot rock vapor - clearly no place to spend the next vacation. In the meantime, astronomers have discovered more of these "epistellar jovian planets", suggesting that they are quite normal.


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