Keeping Warm on those Chilly Nights!

{image via NASA.gov}

In the United States of America on Planet Earth, it's definitely winter. While we're bundled up in our mittens, having snowball fights and drinking hot cocoa, there are giant worlds out in space called "hot Jupiters" that make even the hottest day of our summer seem downright chilly. Earth's neighbor, Venus, used to hold the record for the hottest planet, at a crispy 460°C. Scientists have now found a new hot spot. WASP 33b is a planet that is 380 light-years away, paired up with a white-hot star in the constellation Andromeda.

Back in October, the planet was found by using a special telescope located in the Canary Islands. WASP 33b is now the heavyweight heat champion of planets, scorching in at a sizzling 3200°C. The gas giant whizzes around its star about every 30 hours, even blocking some of the starlight. This is how scientists were able to find it! We have got some more cold weather to look forward to before Spring arrives, but just thinking about this hot, hot planet might leave us feeling a little bit toastier!