Chandra Release - September 16, 2014

Visual Description: WASP-18

The graphic features three panels. The main panel is an artist's illustration of a large, bright yellow Sun-like star with a close Jupiter-like planet in brown and an aqua wind-like texture around it, tucked up on the sun's left side. This is a depiction of the exoplanet WASP 18-b. The two other smaller panels contain x-ray and optical images of this planet. at the lower right and A study using Chandra X-ray Observatory data has shown that WASP-18b is making the star that it orbits act much older than it actually is. Surprisingly, the long Chandra observations shown at lower right reveal no X-rays being emitted from WASP-18, as seen in the lower inset box. The same field-of-view in the upper inset box shows that in optical light WASP-18 is a bright white source. Using established relations between the magnetic activity and X-ray emission of stars and their age, the researchers concluded that WASP-18 is about 100 times less active than it should be at its age.