Hot Like Jupiter
After the discovery of an exoplanet, there were many speculations and anticipations in the astrophysics field. The discovery of Mayor and Queloz has already brought a wave of advancements, and scientists were looking to take a piece of the pie. After the discovery, scientists started comparing the specifications of the 51 Pegasi b with the planets of our solar system. The planet that was orbiting 51 Pegasi was nothing like what we have in our solar system. It is surprising to know that the early discovery of the exoplanet was tossed as junk in 1992.
It was Mayor and Queloz’s undisputable findings that confirmed the reality of exoplanet and their existence in our universe. The International Astronomical Union gave the planet orbiting around 51 Pegasi a name. It was named Dimidium, and its informal name was Bellerophon. It is basically a gas giant with a mass similar to that of Jupiter and 150 times the mass of Earth. Dimidium orbits 5 million miles from its host star, which is actually seven times closer than Mercury is presently closer to the sun.
Everyone has been deeming Dimidium as hot Jupiter because it has the same mass of Jupiter, but it is way hotter than the giant planet of our solar system. Apart from the temperature, there are many things common between Jupiter and Dimidium. For instance, the mass, the gaseous state.