Artist impression of WASP-189

Artist impression of exoplanet WASP-189b orbiting its host star. The system was observed by ESA’s exoplanet mission Cheops to determine key characteristics. For example, the host star is larger and more than 2000 degrees hotter than our own Sun, and so appears to glow blue. The planet has an inclined orbit – it doesn’t travel around the equator, but passes close to the star’s poles.

It is one of the hottest and most extreme extra-solar planets known to date, and falls into the class of ultra-hot Jupiters.

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