A Carbon Rich Exoplanet

Illustration of WASP-12b in orbit about its host star (Credit: ESA/C Carreau)

Since its discovery in 2008, WASP-12b has been an unusual planet. This 1.4 Jovian mass, gas giant lies so close to its parent star that gas is being stripped from its atmosphere. But being stripped away isn’t the only odd property of this planet’s atmosphere. A new study has shown that it’s full of carbon.

(…) Read the rest of WASP-12b: A Carbon Rich Exoplanet (349 words)

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(C) jvois for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post

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