Astronomers have discovered the secrets of an alien atmosphere on the exoplanet far beyond our solar system, which is unlike everything we have ever seen.
In the scientific first, the international team of astronomers presented the 3D atmosphere of the WASP-121B planet, also known as Tylos. Using a very large telescope of the European Southern Observatory (yes, it is really called), they identified complex weather patterns and surprising chemical composition. Their studyPosted in early unregulated version on Tuesday in the magazine NatureHe presses the path to future research of alien atmosphere.
“The atmosphere of this planet behaves in ways that cause our understanding of how time works – not only on Earth, but also on all planets. She feels like something outside science fiction, “said Julia Victoria Seidel, a physicist in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile and the leading author of the study, in Eso statement. It is worth noting that since the official definition of the “planet” is limited to celestial bodies within our solar system (some astronomers suggest that they change that), Tylos is a technical exoplanet – but astronomers sometimes stick to the “planet” for simplicity.
Exoplanet is a gas giant (A large planet primarily made of helium and/or hydrogen) approximately 900 light years away from Earth. Soon orbit your star in just about 30 hours – so close that Tylos is also classified as Ultra-Vruci Jupiter: Extremely large and hot planet with a very tight orbit. The time it takes to complete one orbit is the same time when a gas giant is needed to complete one rotation, which means that one of Tylos’ sides is permanently faced with its star and is much warmer than the other (ie it is neatly locked ).
Seidel and her colleagues analyzed the atmosphere of Exoplanets using all four ESO VLT telescopic units. Following iron, sodium and hydrogen, they were able to explore extremely deep, medium and upper atmospheric layers of the planet.
“The VLT has allowed us to test three different layers of the exoplanet atmosphere in one fall,” said Leonardo A. Dos Santos, an astronomer assistant to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, who participated in the study. “It is a kind of observation that is very challenging to do with space telescopes, emphasizing the importance of ground observations of exoplanets,” he added.
The team then created a 3D map of his observations, revealing an alien atmosphere outside our solar system with unprecedented details.
“What we discovered was surprising: the jet course turns the material around the planet equator, while the separate flow at the lower levels of the atmosphere moves the gas from the hot side to the cooler side. This type of climate has never been seen on any planet before,” Seidel explained. Compared to the size and speed of the Tylos jet, “even the strongest hurricane in the solar system look calm compared to,” she added.
In addition, the companion study– Published earlier this week in the magazine Astronomy and astrophysics Some of the same researchers – does not reveal a titanium under the jet flow. Previous studies have not noticed this chemical presence, perhaps because of its depth in the atmosphere.
“It is truly astonishing that we are able to study details such as chemical makeup and weather planets at such a huge distance,” said Bibiana Prinoth, a doctoral student of astronomy and astrophysics at Lund University. “This experience feels like we are on the verge of discovering the amazing things we can just dream of now.” Prinoth is the author Nature paper and led the accompanying piece.
Prinoth’s excitement is well set. The future telescopes of ESO’s upcoming extremely large telescope (ELT) will be able to researchers to carry out similar atmospheric analysis of smaller Earth planets. “Elt will be an exchanger to study the atmosphere of the exoplanet,” Prinoth concluded.