• Scientists have discovered the hottest known planet located 650 light years from Earth, which is warmer than most stars in the universe and sports a giant, glowing gas tail like a comet.
• The Jupiter-like planet, named KELT-9b, orbits a massive star KELT-9 every day and a half.
• With a day-side temperature peaking at 4,326 degree Celsius, the newly discovered exoplanet is hotter than most stars and only 926 degree Celsius cooler than our Sun.
• The ultraviolet radiation from the star it orbits is so brutal that the planet may be evaporating away under the intense glare, producing a glowing gas tail.
• The gas giant 2.8 times more massive than Jupiter but only half as dense, because the extreme radiation from its host star has caused its atmosphere to puff up like a balloon.
• Since it is tidally locked to its star — as the moon is to Earth — the day side of the planet is perpetually bombarded by stellar radiation, and as a result the planet is so hot that molecules such as water, carbon dioxide and methane cannot form there.

Sources: TH