Weird 'hot Jupiter' exoplanet is shaped like a football

[Admin]

Planet WASP-103b got its unusual shape by orbiting very close to its parent star.

Weird 'hot Jupiter' exoplanet is shaped like a football : Read more

 

[rod]

This is another very interesting hot jupiter report. Reference paper, Detection of the tidal deformation of WASP-103b at 3 σ with CHEOPS★, https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2022/01/aa42196-21/aa42196-21.html, 11-January-2022. “Abstract Context. Ultra-short period planets undergo strong tidal interactions with their host star which lead to planet deformation and orbital tidal decay. Aims. WASP-103b is the exoplanet with the highest expected deformation signature in its transit light curve and one of the shortest expected spiral-in times..."

My note. Observations of WASP-103 b are challenging and intriguing. This site reports properties for the WASP-103 system. http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/wasp-103_b/ My note. Using my astronomy spreadsheet and properties listed for WASP-103 system, the orbital period or P = 9.2430E-01 days or 0.924 day period. In one billion years, WASP-103 b could complete 3.9516E+11 revolutions. That is more than 395 billion revolutions in a one billion year time span but the host star age could be 4 billion years old, +/- 1 billion. Consider Mercury completes a bit more than 4 billion around the Sun in the same time period. The deformed shape of this hot jupiter and other issues like the number of revolutions completed around the host star are issues to investigate, including if the planet is spiraling inwards into the host star.

 

[Pogo]

Sounds like 103b has been in that orbit long enough to have become tidally locked to the star and allow that deformation.