How can some planets be hotter than stars? We've started to unravel the mystery

By Quentin Changeat, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Astronomy, UCL
Billy Edwards, Project Scientist of the Twinkle Space Mission, Research Fellow of Astronomy, UCL

Until the early 2000s, the only known planets were located in our own neighbourhood, the Solar System. They broadly form two categories: the small rocky planets in the inner Solar System and the cold gaseous planets located in the outer part. With the discovery of exoplanets, planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, additional classes of planets were discovered and a new picture started to emerge. Our Solar System is by no means typical.

For example, data…

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