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Hot Jupiter CoRoT-2b Spins Every Three Days, Defying Tidal Lock

7/2/2026

Summary

Story summary

U.S. scientists led by team leader Aurora Kesseli announced that hot-Jupiter CoRoT-2 b rotates once every three days.
CoRoT-2 b, 3.5 × Jupiter’s mass and 1.5 × its size, orbits every 41 hours, so its three-day spin exceeds its 1.7-day year and places the atmospheric hotspot opposite the orbital direction.
Very Large Telescope data identified the slow spin, showing that the rotation-orbit mismatch alters Coriolis forces and urging revisions of hot-Jupiter tidal-locking models.

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Story summary

U.S. scientists led by team leader Aurora Kesseli announced that hot-Jupiter CoRoT-2 b rotates once every three days.
CoRoT-2 b, 3.5 × Jupiter’s mass and 1.5 × its size, orbits every 41 hours, so its three-day spin exceeds its 1.7-day year and places the atmospheric hotspot opposite the orbital direction.
Very Large Telescope data identified the slow spin, showing that the rotation-orbit mismatch alters Coriolis forces and urging revisions of hot-Jupiter tidal-locking models.