For the first time ever, astronomers have found iron and titanium in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system.
The exoplanet, named KELT-9b, is the hottest alien world ever discovered. The planet is so scorching, it’s even hotter than most stars.
This sweltering exoplanet, located about 620 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, is what astronomers call an “ultrahot Jupiter.” KELT-9b is a giant gas world like Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. But it’s way bigger—it has three times the mass and twice the diameter of Jupiter—and it orbits extremely close to its hot parent star, KELT-9.
“Ultrahot Jupiter” is an unofficial term for a hot Jupiter exoplanet with temperatures exceeding 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit (1,700 degrees Celsius).
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