On the hot planet WASP-79b, the size of Jupiter, the weather is humid and steaming, with clouds scattered in the yellow sky and iron rain.
Scientists imagine WASP-79b
Image source: nasa.gov/
NASA's Hubble telescope, in collaboration with the Magellan Ii telescope in Chile, analyzed the planet's atmosphere, which orbits a star hotter and brighter than the Sun in the constellation of Poejeong, 780 light-years from Earth. Of the exoplanets orbiting stars beyond the Sun, WASP-79b is one of the largest planets observed to date.
Hubble Telescope
Image source: nasa.gov
Surprisingly, in the recently released results, there is no evidence of an atmospheric phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering in the planet's atmosphere, in which light energy of a certain color is dispersed by tiny dust particles present in the upper atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering turns Earth's sky blue by scattering the shorter wavelength portion of sunlight (blue light).
Earth's blue atmosphere
Because WASP-79b doesn't appear to have this phenomenon, its sky may turn yellow during the day, the researchers said.
"This is a powerful indication of an unknown atmospheric process that we simply don't explain in the physical model." I've shown a lot of my colleagues the spectrum of WASP-79b and they all thought, 'This is weird.'" Kristin Shawwater Sozen of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, said.
The team hopes to find another planet with similar conditions for more research.
"Because this is the first time we've encountered this, we can't really determine why it's happening." "We need to keep an eye out for other planets with similar conditions, because that could reveal mysteries about unknown atmospheric processes that we currently can't understand," Sotzen said. Since there is only one planet as a sample, we cannot know whether this is an atmospheric phenomenon associated with the evolution of planets. ”
It is now widely believed that the orbits of "hot Jupiters" are so close to stars because they have accumulated large amounts of cold gas on the periphery of cold planetary systems and migrated towards the more compact inner orbits of stars. WasP-79b takes only 3 and a half days a week. But the planet is in an unusual polar orbit around the star, overturning scientists' theories about planetary composition — especially for such "hot Jupiters."
Jupiter
Image source: nasa.gov
The latest results may provide additional clues to the history of similar planets. Some "hot Jupiters" appear to have hazy or cloudy atmospheres, while others appear to have more refreshing atmospheres. If WASP-79b is like some other "hot Jupiters," it may have scattered clouds, and iron will rain as it rises to high altitudes.
WASP-79b is twice the size of Jupiter, and it is hot and has an extended atmosphere, which is ideal for studying starlight that has been weakened by atmospheric filtration and rushed to Earth.
To study the planet, the team used a spectrometer on the Magellan II telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile — an instrument that determines the chemical composition by analyzing the wavelength of light. They predict that the blue starlight will be reduced by Rayleigh scattering. However, the team observed the opposite trend. The shorter the wavelength and the bluer the light, the more transparent it seems, meaning that the atmosphere absorbs and scatters them less. This result is consistent with NASA's separate observations of WASP-79b by NASA's Transiting Extrasolar Planet Survey Satellite (TESS).
Images of extragalactic planet survey satellites (TESS) drawn by the artist
WASP-79b was also observed as part of the Hubble Space Telescope's Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Library (PanCET) program, which revealed water vapor in wasp-79b's atmosphere. Based on these discoveries, the giant planet was chosen as an early scientific target for NASA's upcoming James Webb telescope. The Webb telescope is expected to provide more spectral data on longer wavelength infrared waves. The observations could reveal more evidence of water vapor in the planet's atmosphere and more details about the planet's chemical composition, which could help reveal potential sources of its singular spectrum.
Spectrum and its frequency
These results will be published in the January 2020 issue of the Journal of Astronomy.
The Hubble Space Telescope is an international cooperation project between NASA and the European Space Agency. The telescope is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Center in Greenfield, Maryland. The Space Telescope Research Institute (STScI) in Baltimore is responsible for the scientific manipulation of hubbells. The Space Telescope Institute is run by the Association of Universities for Astronomical Studies in Washington, D.C., for NASA.
by: Claire Andreoli,Ray Villard, Kristin Sotzen
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