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An image of the exoplanet WASP-189 b orbiting its parent star.
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Nationalgeographic.co.id—A surprise comes from the results of the analysis of scientists on one of the exoplanets. They found that WASP-189 b, one of the exoplanet the most extreme known, turns out to have atmosphere layered like Earth.
Although this exoplanet has an atmospheric resemblance to Earth, the similarities between the two seem to just stop there. WASP-189 b is a world twice the mass of Jupiter with a temperature of thousands of degrees, so we have no chance of flying and moving there.
The reason why this exoplanet is so hot is because of its proximity to its star. WASP-189 b orbits the star in just 2.7 days. This exoplanet is 20 times closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun.
Thanks to the similarity of WASP-189 b’s atmosphere to Earth’s atmosphere, researchers were able to study its atmosphere in detail. As reported in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, an international team has determined the presence of iron, chromium, vanadium, magnesium and manganese, as well as titanium oxide in the exoplanet’s atmosphere.
“We measure the light coming from the parent star planet and through the planet’s atmosphere. The gases in its atmosphere absorb some of the starlight, similar to Ozone which absorbs some of the sunlight in Earth’s atmosphere, and thus leave its characteristic ‘fingerprint’,” said lead author Bibiana Prinoth of Lund University in a statement. IFL Science.
“With HARPS [pemburu planet ESO], we were able to identify the appropriate substances.”
Titanium oxide is a very exciting discovery because it has been associated with layers such as ozone and layers such as the stratosphere on the planet ekstrasurya other. But these new observations go a step further, finding evidence of additional layers.
“In our analysis, we saw that the ‘fingerprints’ of the different gases changed slightly compared to our estimates. We believe that strong winds and other processes could have produced these changes.”
“And because the fingerprints of different gases change in different ways, we think that this indicates that they are in different layers – similar to how the fingerprints of water vapor and ozone on Earth would appear to change. differently from a distance, because most of it occurs in different layers of the atmosphere,” explains Prinoth.
There’s a lot we don’t know about the atmospheres of exoplanets, and even the atmospheres of the Solar System’s gas giants are still a mystery. The new study explains how this distant planet may not have a single-layer atmosphere and it is important to appreciate its three-dimensional complexity.
“We believe that in order to fully understand this planet and other types of planets – including those more similar to Earth, we need to appreciate the three-dimensional nature of its atmosphere. This will require innovations in data analysis techniques, computer modeling and fundamental atmospheric theory,” said Kevin Heng. , researchers who were involved in this latest study.
Also Read: Rocky Exoplanets Turn Out More Diverse and Exotic Than Expected
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