Pictured: A simulation of the rocky super-Earth GJ 1252b, which shows that the planet's atmosphere has disappeared due to extremely high temperatures.
Astronomers have discovered a rocky planet that is similar in size to our Earth, but so hot that the atmosphere on the planet's surface has disappeared.
By comparing these super-Earths with the Earth we live in, scientists are able to discover which rocky exoplanets are likely to give birth to life.
Laura. Credberg is an extraterrestrial planetary scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and a co-author of the paper. "We are working on the frequency and conditions under which rocky planets form atmospheres," he said. Measurements suggest that some of the hottest planets are largely unlikely to have thick atmospheres. ”
Exoplanet GJ1252b is located 65 light-years from Earth, which is relatively closer to its star than the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and its light surface is constantly facing its star, so its surface temperature is higher.
Astronomers measured the magnitude of the infrared, or sub-eclipse, emitted by GJ1252b as it flew past its star through the retired Spitzer Space Telescope, and found that the planet's smooth surface temperature had reached 2,242 degrees Fahrenheit (1,228 degrees Celsius).
This temperature not only melts the gold, silver, copper and other materials on the planet's surface, but also makes it difficult for GJ1252b to form a thick atmosphere. Team members believe that this temperature will leave the rock surface barren, as previously expected.
In addition, the research team found that the surface pressure of GJ1252b was less than 10 bar, suggesting that if there was an atmosphere on the planet's surface, then its atmosphere would be thinner than that indicated by Venus.
Astronomers speculate that even if there were an atmosphere on the surface of GJ1252b that was 10 times thicker than it is today, it would gradually disappear in a million years, shorter than the planetary lifetime of 3.9 million years.
Based on the above analysis, the research team proposed in a paper published in the Journal of Astrophysical Communications on September 23 that there is basically no atmosphere on the surface of GJ1252b.
Professor Ran Crosfeld, an astronomer at the University of Kansas who led the study, said: "This is the smallest planet that scientists have determined to date that has an atmospheric constraint. ”
In the future, scientists will further explore the more constrained atmospheric conditions of planet GJ1252b through the James Webb Space Telescope.
In his paper, Crosfeld said: "Currently, the Spitzer telescope is the only device that can carry out this measurement in the known space environment. Now, though, it's retired. Nonetheless, this measurement can be made with the James Webb telescope, which has a longer wavelength and is more sensitive than the Spitzer telescope. This means that the Webb telescope will greatly ease the work of the Crosfeld research team.
"The Webb telescope has the potential to reveal the surface nature of rocky, high-temperature planets like GJ1252b through infrared," Craedberg said. Different rocks have different spectral signatures, so we may be able to understand what the planet GJ1252b is made of. ”
Further research on GJ1252b could shed light on the planet's composition, and that this study could be extended to other similar rocky planets, which would allow astronomers to better understand these small, high-temperature planets, the researchers said.
Related Knowledge:
Earth is the third planet in the solar system and our home. Although there is a large amount of water in the solar system, only the Earth has liquid surface water. The ocean covers about 70.8% of the earth's surface, with polar ice, lakes, rivers, etc. accounting for only a small proportion. The remaining 29.2% is land, including islands and continents. The Earth's surface is made up of slow-moving tectonic plates that interact to form mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes. The magnetic field that envelops the Earth formed by the Earth's liquid outer core can reverse the destructive solar wind.
Super-Earths are extrasolar planets that are more massive than Earth, but much lower than solar system ice giants like Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17 times larger, respectively. It refers only to the mass of the planet and does not mean anything about the surface condition or habitability. Since the discovery of Gliese 876D by a team led by Eugenia Rivera in 2005, several super-Earths have been discovered.
BY:Robert Lea
FY: 秋
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