Astronomers on the European Space Agency’s Exoplanet Monitoring mission have discovered a planet orbiting the star WASP-103 in the constellation Hercules. The most distinctive feature of the discovered planet is its shape similar to a rugby ball (American football). Planets are usually round objects in space that revolve around stars. According to a report published by techradar on Wednesday.
Although it seems very strange, this may not be unexpected, but it is the first time that scientists have seen something like this in the universe outside the solar system. Scientists discover exoplanets by measuring starlight and observing dips in luminosity when a potential exoplanet passes between us and the star.
Scientists said that this exoplanet is a gas giant that is twice the size of Jupiter and its mass is 1.5 times greater. These gas giant planets orbit very close to their star, often much closer even than Mercury, which orbits our sun. As a result, these exoplanets orbit their stars much faster than we are used to seeing.
This strange shape is due to the fact that the gravity exerted on the side facing the star of the planet is much greater than the gravity exerted on the side facing the star. This difference in gravity, known as tidal force, elongates the exoplanet from its typical spherical shape.
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