Comments on: What's the Weather Like on Extrasolar Planet HD 189733b?

By: Kris

Kris — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:32:13 +0000

Mike, Tyler,
thank you for your thoughts.
Jupiter is believed to have a solid core. Mercury may have originated further from the sun and been catapulted into a closer orbit in the days of the Great Celestial Pool Tournament. I suspect that the sun would have sucked up the atmosphere fast.

But if Mercury was close from day one, indeed no gases may have formed at all. Just some thoughts.

Good idea about naming the interesting exoplanets. Why not use existing names from well known SF? HHG2G and so, that would be fun!

By: Tyler Durden

Tyler Durden — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:30:13 +0000

^^ Yes, but as for the hundreds of gas giants we've found tightly orbiting their stars, they believe they were formed far out and migrated inward. Mercury could have done the same long ago and its atmosphere has simply been burned off.

And the name, HD18973B… come on. Can we start naming the extrasolar planets that we've got good data on, not just doppler wobbles?

Nobody can remember these computer generated star classifications + order of planet discovery as a name.

By: alphonso richardson

alphonso richardson — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:25:11 +0000

I assume the obvious answerto the weather question is simply: hot.
There.

Did I save money on research?

By: Mike S

Mike S — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:31:43 +0000

I doubt Mercury could have been a gas giant. Gas giants are believed to form in the outer parts of a solar system. A star the size of our sun would have easily grabbed the gasses from Mercury's atmosphere to use in its own fusion. Just my opinion.

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:46:13 +0000

Hi, may I ask, could Mercury once have been a hot Jupiter of which now only the solid nucleus is remaining? If so, what's the time-frame to lose the atmosphere?
Cheers.