Stellar Winds Electrify Exoplanets...Heating Their Interior

This is pretty cool. They have found that stellar winds can heat up exoplanets. So, it's not just the close proximity to stars that can create heat for celestial bodies, but currents of electricity! And, the heat is delivered into the interior of the giant exoplanets as well.

Stellar Winds May Electrify Exoplanets
The strangest class of exoplanets found to date might be even stranger than astronomers have thought. A new model suggests that they are partially heated by electric currents linked to their host stars. Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) astronomer Dr. Derek Buzasi has proposed a model in which electric currents arising from the interaction between the planet's magnetic field and the hot charged wind from the star flow through the interior of the planet, heating it like an electric toaster....

... Many of the planets found by the Kepler mission are of a type known as "hot Jupiters." While about the same size as Jupiter in our own solar system, these exoplanets are located much closer to their host stars than even Mercury is to our Sun, meaning that their atmospheres are heated to temperatures of thousands of degrees.

... more at link

[link to www.spacedaily.com]

Last Edited by LJS on 06/26/2014 10:46 AM