Artist’s impression of an exoplanet in a retrograde orbit

Up to now it was expected that exoplanets would all orbit in more or less the same plane, and that they would move along their orbits in the same direction as the star’s rotation — as they do in our Solar System. However, new results unexpectedly show that many exoplanets actually orbit at a large angle to their star’s spin axis. In the case shown here (WASP 8b) the orbit is completely reversed, or retrograde.

Crediti:

ESO/L. Calçada

A proposito dell'immagine

Identificazione:eso1016a
Tipo:Illustrazione
Data di pubblicazione:Martedì 13 Aprile 2010 12:00
Notizie relative:eso1016
Dimensione:3000 x 2120 px

A proposito delll'oggetto

Nome:WASP 8b
Tipo:Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary System
Distanza:280 Anni luce
Categoria:Exoplanets
Illustrations

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