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A faraway planet intrigues
The panels show two possibilities for the bizarre orbit of HAT-P-7b. The top panel shows a "polar" orbit in which the planet goes over the north and south poles of the star. The bottom panel shows a "retrograde" orbit in which the planet revolves in the opposite direction as the star's rotation. Astronomers cannot distinguish these two possibilities because the exact orientation of the star's rotation axis is not yet known.
Photo - Illustrations: Simon Albrecht
Photo - Illustrations: Simon Albrecht
An exoplanet with an extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy.
