ionized calcium (Ca II) tagged posts

Astronomers make 1st Calculations of Magnetic activity in ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanets

This illustration shows a hot Jupiter orbiting so close to a red dwarf star that the magnetic fields of both interact, triggering activity on the star. Astrophysicists have for the first time used observations of such activity to calculate field strengths in four hot Jupiter star-and-planet systems. Image credit: NASA, ESA and A. Schaller (for STScI)

Gas-giant planets orbiting close to other stars have powerful magnetic fields, many times stronger than our own Jupiter, according to a new study by a team of astrophysicists. It is the first time the strength of these fields has been calculated from observations.

The team, led by Wilson Cauley of the University of Colorado, also includes associate professor Evgenya Shkolnik of Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Expl...

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