Laure Dautriche, edited by Manon Fossat 10:02 am, January 13, 2022
The European Space Agency has discovered an unusually shaped planet in the constellation Hercules, 1,800 light years from Earth.
WASP-103B, as it has been named, does indeed resemble a rugby ball.
A phenomenon which is explained by an effect of the tides, which deforms the planet over 10,000 kilometers.
A planet shaped like a rugby ball has been discovered by the European Space Agency in the constellation of Hercules.
Not very bright, this star located 1,800 light years from here and twice the size of Jupiter was observed by the Cheops satellite.
It's called WASP-103B.
This is the very first time that such a planet has been detected.
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It is a giant, gaseous planet, which can be observed in the northern hemisphere with a telescope.
On the surface, it's 2,000 degrees.
Unlike the other planets, this one is not round but it has the shape of a rugby ball.
And it is deformed because it is very close to its star, namely 50 times closer than the Earth is to the sun.
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This deformation is due to a tidal effect, as explained by Jacques Laskar, director of the institute of celestial mechanics at the Paris Observatory.
"The attraction on one side is stronger than the attraction on the other," explains the specialist.
"As for its future evolution, normally one would expect this planet to continue migrating towards the sun and even be absorbed and dislocated by the star."
The deformation of this planet is of the order of 10,000 kilometers.
The Earth is also deformed by the Moon responsible for the tides, but much less: only 30 centimeters.