Cooler object increases heat of warmer object!

Mike T., Swampeast MO

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/08/hot.planet.ap/index.html

Or is it that the intense magnetic field is upsetting that "law" of heat transfer via radiation and radiation from the warmer object is being "blocked"?

Hal

Badly written explanation

"Shkolnik said the hot spot is caused by the planet's powerful magnetic field which transfers energy to hot gaseous just above the star's shining photosphere. The energy creates visible bright patches that can be detected by telescope instruments analyzing some types of ultraviolet light. "

This is a quote from the author of the article, not the scientist, who is not quoted verbatim. Something is lost in translation. I usually have no trouble understanding this kind of thing if it is explained well.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Explanation...

...didn't seem to "hot" to me either, but the effect certainly seems curious.

David Efflandt

Nothing unusual

Whether this is simply due to gravity or magnetic field, it is understandable. When you stir up a fluid it it heats up (or may improve the nuclear burning of the star), and such a large planet moving so close to the star could certainly stir up the star surface and pull gases off of it (resulting in the hot spot).

So it is not necessarily that the radiant heat is being blocked or reflected back, but that molecular motion is being increased as the heavy planet passes over it.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

That sort of thing was in my head as well for an explanation but there must be some reason they are seriously claiming that a cooler object is creating a net heat gain in one warmer.

If it were gravity wouldn't such be detected to some degree on our sun?

jerry scharf

Mike, I read the article differently

You've got a star which is mostly a compressed gas fluid. In the center you have a thermonuclear core running at several million degrees C. At some point as the energy created expands and cools, it hits a band of energy that our eyes are tuned to see, that's the photoshpere. It's the peak of the band of higher energy photons that can make it through the upper atmosphere of earth. Higher energy produce better detail, so seeing with them is sharper than seeing with radio waves.

Lost of things distort the phtosphere. This is a report of a close planet distorting the photosphere in a way where the photosphere surface gets hotter. I didn't read it as the planet supplying energy to the star, just that it's the first finding of an orbiting body causing photosphere deformation. It is mind boggling to me that such detection is possible at astronomical distances.

jerry