Download Video
Video Information
Subscribe to Series
Weird Warm Spot on Exoplanet (Narrated)
This animation illustrates an unexpected warm spot on the surface of a gaseous exoplanet. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered that the hottest part of the planet, shown here as bright, orange patches on the surface, is not directly under the glare of its star but over to the side.
The planet -- a hot, gaseous orb named upsilon Andromedae b -- whips around its star every 4.6 days. Its relative size has been scaled up a bit here for clarity. Because the planet is so close, it is tidally locked, meaning that one side is eternally bombarded by the star's radiation. As can be seen in the animation, the side of the planet facing the star is lit up, while the other side lives in the darkness. The perspective drawn here starts from overhead, and then changes to Earth's point of view; in other words, in the second part of the animation, Earth and the Spitzer telescope are located in the direction of the viewer.
Spitzer observed the heat from the star system with its infrared detectors. It measured the infrared light coming from the star and planet, as the planet circled around. The oscillations in this light -- called a light curve -- occur as the planet swings around: when the hottest part of the planet faces us, the total light goes up; when the coolest part faces us, the total light goes down.
Spitzer found that, in contrast to what might be expected, this planet's hot spot is not facing the sun. Instead, it is over 80 degrees to the side, at about the day-night terminator line, or the point where the light and dark sides of the planet meet.
This animation ends by showing the corresponding Spitzer data. The light curve reveals the location of the planet's hot spot
Related Media
 |
News Release Astronomers Find Weird, Warm Spot on an Exoplanet ssc2010-08 |
 |
Image How to Find a Planetary Hot Spot ssc2010-08a |
|
Image Planetary Hot Spot Not Under the Glare of Star ssc2010-08b |
 |
Video Weird Warm Spot on Exoplanet ssc2010-08v1 |
 |
Video Weird Warm Spot on Exoplanet (Narrated) ssc2010-08v2 |
Most Popular Videos
Spitzer Podcasts
Browse Videos in Science Animations
04.20.05 Sunset on an Alien WorldThis artist's animation illustrates what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical alien planet in a star sys... |
03.22.05 Distant Planet Flaunts its LightThis artist's animation shows a close-up view of a distant giant planet passing behind its star as a regular part of ... |
03.22.05 How to Measure a Planetary EclipseThis artist's animation shows a close-up view of a distant giant planet passing behind its star as a regular part of ... |
03.22.05 A Planet in a Different LightThis artist's animation shows first what a fiery hot star and its close-knit planetary companion might look like clos... |
03.01.05 Invisible Galaxies Come to LifeThis artist's animation demonstrates that an invisible galaxy shrouded in dust can become glaringly bright when viewe... |
02.11.05 Spitzer's Delicate Ring FlowerNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope finds a delicate flower in the Ring Nebula, as shown in this animation. The outer shel... |
02.07.05 Birth of an Unusual Planetary SystemThis artist's animation shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disk of planet-building dust. NASA's Spitzer Spa... |
01.12.05 Trifid's Shifting SidesThis movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of the glowing Trifid Nebula to infrared views from NASA'... |
12.09.04 The Evolution of a Planet-Forming DiskThis animation shows the evolution of a planet-forming disk around a star. Initially, the young disk is bright and th... |
12.09.04 A Distant Solar SystemThis animation portrays an artist's concept of a distant hypothetical solar system, about the same age as our own. It... |
11.09.04 Icy Dawn of a Newborn StarIn this animation, we observe what a young star with a circumstellar disc would look like when viewed from different ... |
10.18.04 Swirling Rings of DustThis animation depicts colliding rocky bodies in an early planetary system. Such collisions form the basis of the pla... |
10.18.04 When Worlds CollideThis animation illustrates a massive collision between rocky, embryonic planets as big as mountain ranges. Such colli... |
10.12.04 Galactic Fossil Revealed in Infrared LightThis animation demonstrates the power of infrared light to see what visible light cannot -- a newfound bundle of star... |
10.07.04 Visible-Infrared WhirlpoolThis animation transitions from the more familiar visible light image of the "Whirlpool Galaxy" to the dramatic new v... |
10.06.04 Supernova ExplosionThis animation of a supernova explosion demonstrates what happens when a massive star explodes and creates a shell of... |
10.06.04 Kepler's Supernova Remnant - Zoom-InThis "zoom" starts in the Scorpius constellation and pushes through deeper and narrower telescopic fields to at last ... |
10.06.04 Kepler's Supernova Remnant - Composite ImageThe composite view of the supernova splits into its three components: blue-green for Chandra, yellow for Hubble, and ... |
08.09.04 Spitzer Discovers Hidden RingThis animation transitions from a visible light image of the planetary nebula called NGC 246 to Spitzer's new infrare... |
06.01.04 Missing Host Galaxies Found in Infrared - 2In a collaborative effort between NASA's three Great Observatories, astronomers have solved a cosmic mystery by ident... |
