STYROFOAM IN SPACE IS... SUPER HOT? ALSO EARTH IS A LITTLE BABY

     Space is weird.  Like.. really weird.  And I'm not even talking about aliens or anything crazy, I'm talking about Kepler 7B also known as the styrofoam planet.  This exoplanet is eccentric due to the fact that although its diameter is 1.5 times the size

Screenshot from NASA's Eyes on Exoplanets            

of Jupiter's,  it is only half the mass of Jupiter-- this means that Kepler 7B would be able to float on water!  It's huge yet lightweight!
     In comparing Kepler 7B to earth we are able to get a little less abstract in our understanding of its size and density.  Discovered in 2009, the exoplanet's mass is 0.44x Jupiter's.  Jupiter's mass is 1.8981 x 10^27 kg, over 317 times the mass of earth.  Distance-wise K7B isn't very close to Earth, if you were driving in a car at an average rate of 60 miles per hour it would take you 16 billion years to get there.  If you were traveling at light speed, 670 million miles per hour, it would shorten the trip to 1419 years.  Much better.

Screenshot from NASA's Eyes on Exoplanets - A
comparison of  Earth and K7B

     Another interesting comparison is in Earth and Kepler 7B's orbital periods: while a year on Earth is marked by the orbital period of 365 days, on Kepler 7B a year would end every 5 days since the planet has an orbital radius of .06 AU.  Kepler 7B is also not within the habital zone, it is inside the ring indicating that it is far too hot for liquid water to exist on the surface.  NASA has nicknamed the gaseous planet "Hot Jupiter" ;)  

     So what would living on Kepler 7B be like?  Or rather, considering that it isn't in the habitable zone, what would those who live on it be like?  To quote any real scientist (according to our lecturer), "Well... anything is possible".  The life forms inhabiting "Hot Jupiter" would need to be able to handle the heat and in addition weigh almost nothing since their colossal planet weighs as much as styrofoam...  maybe the inhabitants could be balloon like lifeforms?  Floating above the 

Screenshot from NASA's Eyes on Exoplanets- The blue
ring is the habitable zone and Kepler 7B is not in it

surface of their planet, bobbing up and down
in the immense heat and somehow not melting.          At least for the inhabitants Kepler 7B's forcast would always be consistent: hot and cloudy.  While Kepler 7B ranges between 1800-1500 degrees Farenheit, it is much cooler than expected for orbiting so closely to its star.  K7B's secret?  The clouds!  The exoplanet reflects much more light than other planets of its size and scientists believe this is because of thick cloud cover.  The climate on Keplar 7B is remarkably stable as well, so if my proposed balloon beings do live on K7B, they're just bobbing up and down into eternity since every day is the same on Hot Jupiter.

Inhabitants of Keplar 7B? Probably.
(Courtesy of of kidzactivities.net)

     While K7B can teach us about weather systems like circulation and cloud distribution along with whatever chemical processes it allows to happen on its gaseous surface, the exoplanet probably is not a place we would be able to visit due to its mind boggling mass and high temperatures.  For now I guess we'll have to admire Keplar 7B and all it's "hotness" from a distance.




additional sources to supplement jpl site:
- http://wamu.org/news/13/10/01/whats_the_forecast_on_kepler_7b_hot_and_cloudy
- http://news.mit.edu/2013/scientists-generate-first-map-of-clouds-on-kepler-7b-1003