Exoplanet's Day Lasts for Just Eight Hours

The rotation rate of an exoplanet was determined for the first time by researchers analyzing the date from ESO's Very Large Telescope. Beta Pictoris b has been found to have a day that lasts only eight hours. This is much quicker than any planet in the Solar System - its equator is moving at almost 100,000 kilometres per hour. This new result extends the relation between mass and rotation seen in the Solar System to exoplanets. Similar techniques will ...