嚴重「暖化」的星球

嚴重「暖化」星球
2009年1月30日

【明報專訊】天文學家在200光年外 的太空深處發現一個「暖化」問題極嚴重的星球，它在最接近其圍繞的恆星時，溫度高達1227℃。這個星球名為HD80606b，是一個質量比木星大3倍的 氣體星球，它以橢圓形軌道每114天圍繞行星公轉一周。天文學家發現，這個星球平時的溫度約為527℃，但它在最接近恆星的6小時，溫度會急升至 1227℃，表面也會觸發風力每秒5公里的大型熱風暴。離開恆星後，星球在高溫消散下會轉成紅色。參與研究的加州大學天文學家笑言，首次在太陽系以後觀測 到星球的氣候變化，而在如此高溫下，它肯定沒有生物。

美聯社/法新社

HD80606b變化多端的氣候在電腦效果下一覽無遺。（法新社）

wildlife

The week in wildlife


Tijuana, Mexico, 6 January: A heron flies past a pelican sitting on a rock during sunset in Punta Bandera


London, UK, 8 January: Otters look out from their pen at the London Zoo during the annual stocktake. Every January London's Zoo carries out it's annual stocktake


Edinburgh, UK: Rainbow Lorikeets at Edinburgh Zoo. Zookeepers across the country took on the mammoth task of counting each and every animal in their collection for a new year stocktake


Siabrin, Belarus, 5 January: Blue tits perch on grass as temperatures dropped to around -17C


Coral off Jarvis Island, one of seven islands strung along the equator in the Pacific Ocean. Parts of three remote and uninhabited Pacific island chains are being set aside by President George Bush to protect them from oil exploration and commercial fishing in what will be the largest marine conservation effort in history


Santa Rosa de la Pampa, Argentina, 3 January: Flamingos fly over a lake near Santa Rosa de la Pampa close to the first stage of the Dakar Rally between Buenos Aires and Santa Rosa de la Pampa


Manchester, UK: Horses in the snow on Holcombe Hill on the border between Greater Manchester and Lancashire

snowy britain

Snowy weather hits Britain


Cambridge: Emily Rhodes dresses a snowman near her home


Sittingbourne, Kent: Livestock shelter from the snow

galactic collision

Get out of the way! Galactic collision will happen sooner than scientists thought


An artist's impression of the Milky Way.

nature's great events

Nature's greatest spectacles revealed in new Attenborough series
From flooding in Botswana's Okavango Delta to melting ice in the Arctic and Pacific plankton blooms, a new BBC series narrated by Sir David Attenborough showcases the Earth's most dramatic and epic wildlife spectacles and the animals caught up in them


Nature's Great Events is scheduled to be shown on BBC One later this year. Each of the six programmes features a different event set in one of the world's most iconic wildernesses. Episode one, entitled The Great Melt, follows a mother polar bear and her cub making their first journey on to the Arctic sea ice in search of prey