APOD: Temperatures on Exoplanet WASP-43b (2024 May 03)

[Chris Peterson]

Well, OK, temperature is based on molecular motion. The scale we use is based on some earthbound feature at sea level & 1 atmosphere plus desire for decimalization.

What is really fascinating is : how do we know what is going on so far away, and what does that imply about how the system formed? There are so many double star systems. A K star is not as bright as the sun, but would it have permitted a dust cloud big enough to condense a super sized Jupiter so close as to orbit in 18 hours?

Keep in mind that where a planet orbits may have nothing to do with where it formed. The planets in our own system moved massively early on, when there were many more of them and the interactions much more complex.