Heat seeker: Abu Dhabi researcher discovers distant planet is scorching 3,500°C

An Abu Dhabi scientist was part of a team of researchers who mapped temperatures on a planet 400 million light years away - and found that some areas are as hot as 3,500°C.

Dr Jasmina Blecic, from New York University Abu Dhabi, and her fellow researchers produced what is described as the first three-dimensional temperature map of an exoplanet – a planet that orbits a star other than the sun.

The work on an exoplanet called Wasp-18b, described in a new paper in Nature Astronomy, forms part of wider efforts to better understand the universe and to develop techniques to study potentially habitable worlds.

Temperatures on exoplanets can vary wildly. The coldest known exoplanet experiences temperatures as low as -223°C, with the hottest topping 4,000°C.

While Wasp-18b itself is unsuitable for life, Dr Blecic, who is part of NYU Abu Dhabi’s Centre for Astrophysics and Space Science, said analysis of exoplanets could indicate which ones may be home to life.

“What motivates us when we study exoplanets is to answer the question, ‘Are we alone? Are there habitable planets out there?’” Dr Blecic told The National.

To help find answers, the first thing that scientists must understand, Dr Blecic said, is the temperature of the planet. “We expect the habitable planets that host life will have temperatures similar to what we have on Earth, which allow water to be liquid,” she said.

Too hot to handle

Although some other exoplanets may be habitable, Wasp-18b unquestionably is not: it is far too hot to have liq