TOI-1431b, also known as MASCARA-5b, was found 490 light-years from Earth and could be the hottest planet in the known universe.
Researchers at the University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Astrophysics in Toowoomba led the global team that made the discovery.
NASA’s Training Exoplanet Survey Satellite first flagged TOI-1431b as a possible planet in late 2019.
Dayside temperature reaches approximately 2700 degrees celcius and nightside temperature approaches approximately 2300 degrees celcius – no life could survive in its atmosphere.
This temperature is significantly greater than the melting point of most metals, many of which will turn to liquid at under 2000 degrees celcius.
Titanium melts at 1670 degrees, platinum at 1770 degrees, and stainless steel at between 1375 and 1530 degrees.
Planet with a retrograde orbit
These types of planets, known as ultra-hot Jupiters, are rarely discovered but this particular one is even more unusual due to its retrograde orbit.
In our Solar System, all the planets orbit in the same direction that the Sun rotates and they’re all along the same plane.
This new planet’s orbit is tilted so much that it is actually going in the opposite direction to the rotation of its host star.