Uniform Hot Jupiters

Exoplanetary Scratchpad [SysBP Img]

Hot Jupiters that feature super-sonic winds that transport heat from the eternal day side to the eternal night side so that temperature is fairly uniform between the day side and the night side. 51 Pegasi b, HD 179949 b, and HD 209458 b are the first confirmed cases.

Uniform Hot Jupiters In the News

Supersonic Wind Causes Uniform Temperature (2007)

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070109_superwind_planets.html
http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=29397

Example Systems

• 51 Pegasi System - The star called 51 Pegasus is now known as Helvetios. Contains the first exo-planet around a normal star discovered and the first "Hot Jupiter" found, which is nicknamed "Bellerophon", and now called Dimidium. Star is about 50 ly located in the square of Pegasus, a G5 star somewhat larger and more massive than the Sun. The planet's discovery was incompatible with planetary system formation models, so they were tweaked to allow for planetary migration. It was also initially thought to be an anomaly or the stripped down core of a brown dwarf. Found to have supersonic winds that caused the eternal night-side hemisphere to be as hot as the day-side one. During its 20th anniversary, this planet became the first one's whose reflected visible light was detected. The technique involved looking at a star's visible spectrum, and then detecting a faint reflection of this spectra. Its actual mass (0.46 MJ) and inclination (9deg) were obtained as a result. The planet seems to have a larger radius and bright surface, rather typical for hot jupiters. One of the first 20 exoplanet systems allowed to be given common names by the IAU. The star's name is Latin for a Celtic tribe that lived in Switzerland (the place where its planet was discovered) during the middle ages. The planet's name is Latin for "half" due to the fact its minimum mass is half as massive as Jupiter's.
• HD 179949 System - Contains the first planet discovered by the Anglo-Australian Planet Search, which is also the first exoplanet whose Magnetic Field was observed. This Hot Jupiter is about the same mass as Jupiter and orbits once every thre days. It was found to have supersonic winds that caused the night side (not tidally locked) to be as hot as the day side. This system is also the first observed to have planet-induced stellar X-ray activity. Magnetic interaction causes a bright spot on its star at 30 degrees latitude.
• HD 209458 System - Has first discovered transiting planet which was nicknamed Osiris due to the (first detected) comet-like tail detected and the first exoplanet around a normal star to have its mass directly measured. Also the first Inflated Hot Jupiter found. The planet may be losing its outer atmosphere, or magnetism may prevent the ions from escaping. They detected water in its atmosphere (they had failed earlier), the first time this has been done for any exoplanet. 2nd Exoplanet with detected organic compounds; like HD 189733b, it has water and carbon dioxide, but it has a lot more Methane. Was one of 2 planets to have light directly taken and thus their temperatures read (over 1000K). Tracking carbon molecules with dopplar spectrometry caused it to be the first exoplanet detected to have winds, which are raging at 5,000 to 10,000 km/h. This is believed to cause hotspots to appear at terminators rather than at the star-ward facing point. Had one of the strongest water detection of the 5 exoplanets contrasted by Hubble in 2013, though still less intense than expected, probably due to dust clouds or a haze blocking its detection.