NASA’s Hubble spacecraft finds evidence of a WEATHER system on the nearby exoplanet “Hot Jupiter” – despite surface temperatures of 2,192 ° F
- The researchers examined WASP-31b images made by the Hubble Telescope
- WASP-31b is an extremely hot “fluffy planet” located 1,305 light-years from Earth.
- It is locked in an orderly fashion, with one side facing the star and the other facing the space
- Temperatures can reach up to 2,192F in the area between day and night
- Here researchers say that the chemical hydride of chromium can turn between liquid and gas and can produce strong winds from day to night.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope saw potential signs of a weather system on a hot Jupiter-sized exoplanet with surface temperatures of 2,192F.
Researchers at the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and the University of Groningen examined WASP-31b images made by the famous telescope.
WASP-31b is locked in an orderly fashion, with one side always oriented with the host star the size of the Sun – in the “twilight zone” between the two zones the temperatures reach 2,192 degrees F.
Experts have found evidence of chromium hydride in this area – at temperatures and pressure levels that could allow it to switch between liquid and gas – forming a meteorological system as it rains on the night side and as gas on the night side. day.
This is an important discovery, the team says, as a weather system is a key feature astronomers look for when finding a suitable planet for life – and finding one in such an inhospitable world could make the process easier for “planets”. friendlier ”.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered evidence of a weather system on a “hot Jupiter” exoplanet – suggesting that the world may have suitable conditions for life
In the “twilight zone” – the area between the star and the space side – temperatures can reach up to 2192 degrees Fahrenheit (2,100 C)
WASP-31b is an “inflated world” that is about 1.5 times larger than Jupiter, but with about half its mass – orbiting its dwarf star every 3.4 days.
“Hot Jupiters, including WASP-31b, always have the same side in front of the host star,” says Michiel Min, co-author and leader of the SRON Exoplanets program.
“Therefore, we expect a day with chromium hydride in gaseous form and a night with liquid chromium hydride.
“According to theoretical models, the large temperature difference creates strong winds. We want to confirm this with observations. ‘
Exoplanets are now too far away for man-made probes to reach, but telescopes and equipment on Earth can provide a glimpse into their atmosphere.
They can use fingerprints in the atmosphere – including signs of certain chemicals and the temperatures at which they are found – to determine things like weather systems.
These fingerprints allow astronomers to deduce what substances are in the atmosphere of an exoplanet – and use it one day to find evidence of extraterrestrial life.
A sign that life could exist is finding evidence of a meteorological system on a planet, according to Dutch researchers.
While the “fluffy” WASP-31b is probably too hot for life to evolve, finding evidence of a weather system in the atmosphere helps astronomers learn more about how weather systems could form on extraterrestrial worlds. unusual.
WASP-31b is an “intense planet” 1,305 light-years away from Earth – the planet is blocked, with one side always facing the star and the other toward space
Researchers at the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and the University of Groningen examined WASP-31b images made by the famous telescope
Finding chromium hydride at the boundary between liquid and gas is reminiscent of clouds and rain – at least in the case of water on Earth.
First author Marrick Braam and colleagues found evidence in Hubble data for chromium (CrH) in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-31b.
It is the first time Jupiter has been found on a hot planet and at the right pressure and temperature for it to function as a weather system.
“We should add that we only found chromium hydride using the Hubble Space Telescope,” Braam said, adding that they had not seen it in ground-based telescopes, including the Southern European Observatory, Chile’s very large telescope.
They will not be able to confirm whether chromium is really proof of a weather system on the planet until Hubble’s successor – the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is launched later this year.
The Dutch team hopes to use it to investigate WASP-31b and other Jupiter-type hot planets to confirm if and how a weather system would work.
Co-author Floris van der Tak says: “With JWST we are looking for chromium hydride on ten planets with different temperatures, to better understand how the weather systems on those planets depend on temperature.”
The findings were published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Scientists study the atmosphere of distant exoplanets using huge space satellites like Hubble
Distant stars and their orbiting planets often have different conditions than anything we see in our atmosphere.
To understand this new world and what it is made of, scientists must be able to detect what their atmosphere is.
They often do this using a telescope similar to NASA’s Hubble Telescope.
These huge satellites scan the sky and fixate on exoplanets that NASA thinks might be of interest.
Here, the on-board sensors perform various forms of analysis.
One of the most important and useful is called absorption spectroscopy.
This form of analysis measures the light that comes out of a planet’s atmosphere.
Each gas absorbs a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens, a black line appears on a full spectrum.
These lines correspond to a very specific molecule, which indicates its presence on the planet.
They are often named after Fraunhofer after the German astronomer and physicist who first discovered them in 1814.
By combining all the different wavelengths of light, scientists can determine all the chemicals that make up a planet’s atmosphere.
The key is that what is missing provides clues to find out what is present.
It is vitally important that this is done by space telescopes, because the Earth’s atmosphere would then interfere.
The absorption of chemicals from our atmosphere would distort the sample, which is why it is important to study light before it has a chance to reach Earth.
It is often used to search for helium, sodium and even oxygen in foreign atmospheres.
This diagram shows how light passing through a star and through the atmosphere of an exoplanet produces Fraunhofer lines that indicate the presence of key compounds such as sodium or helium.