Finding the right person is key to success. habitable exoplanetsThe next challenge is to not only spot exoplanets and look at their orbits but also get a better understanding of their conditions by analysing their atmospheres. The new tools such as the James Webb Space Telescope will allow us to peer into the atmospheres of exoplanets and see what they are composed of, which can affect the planet’s surface temperature, pressure, and weather systems.
Now, astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), a ground-based telescope located in Chile, have discovered the heaviest element ever in an exoplanet atmosphere. The researchers discovered the element barium by studying the atmospheres of two giants of ultra-hot gases, WASP-76b and WASP121b.
These two planets orbit very closely to their respective stars. They have extremely high temperatures, sometimes exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius. WASP76 b is one of the planets. Rain is iron that falls from the skies.. Researchers were surprised to discover barium in the atmospheres on these planets, as it is so heavy.
“The puzzling and counterintuitive part is: why is there such a heavy element in the upper layers of the atmosphere of these planets?” said lead author Tomás Azevedo Silva of the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) in Portugal, in a Statement.
“Given the high gravity of the planets, we would expect heavy elements like barium to quickly fall into the lower layers of the atmosphere,” said co-author Olivier Demangeon.
The researchers still aren’t sure what is causing this very heavy element to appear in the exoplanet atmospheres, but the fact it has been identified in not one but two different hot Jupiter atmospheres is interesting. It will take further research to find out where the barium is from and why it remains so high in this atmosphere.
The research was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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