Not 365 days, New Year celebration happens on this planet every 21 hours, know everything about this ultra hot Neptune planet.
Science News Desk – You celebrate New Year once a year. The Earth takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to complete one revolution around the Sun. That means there are 365.25 days in a year. This changes the year. The celebrations that start on the night of 31st December continue till 1st January, but have you ever heard of a planet that celebrates New Year every 21 hours? Let us tell you about one such planet…
Neptune-sized planet
Actually, astronomers have discovered a rare type of planet outside the solar system, known as TOI-3261 b. A year on this planet is only 21 hours long. This newly discovered planet remains a subject of curiosity for people interested in science. TOI-3261 b is an ultra-hot Neptune-sized planet. An international team of scientists led by astronomer Emma Nabi of the University of Southern Queensland has published their findings in The Astronomical Journal in August 2024.
This way it completes a year in 21 hours
They describe this extraordinary planet in their paper ‘Surviving the Hot Neptune Desert: Discovery of Ultrahot Neptune TOI-3261 b’. According to research, TOI-3261 b revolves in a close orbit to its star. With this it completes a year in just 21 hours. However, the existence of this planet challenges existing theories, as it is difficult for planets to maintain a thick gaseous atmosphere due to their proximity to their stars.
It can be analyzed with the James Webb Space Telescope
The research team believes that this star and planet system is approximately 6.5 billion years old. They believe that TOI-3261 b was probably a very large gas giant planet the size of Jupiter. Interestingly, TOI-3261 b is about twice as dense as Neptune. This suggests that only its heavy atmospheric components remain. It is believed that the planet’s atmosphere can be analyzed in infrared light using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. TOI-3261b joins the growing list of ultra-short-period hot Neptunes discovered since 2020. These rare planets, including LTT-9779 b, TOI-849b and TOI-332b, are helping to unravel the mysteries of space.
