the date
7/9/2023 2:19:35 PM (MENAFN- Youm7) A study identified 11 chemical elements in the atmosphere of a very hot exoplanet WASP-76 b, and the results indicate that the total composition of the planet reflects the composition of the initial planetary disk from which it was formed, and causes High temperatures contribute to the evaporation of rock-forming elements into the atmosphere. Interestingly, the team also noticed that no particular elements required higher temperatures to evaporate, leading to the hypothesis that WASP-76 b could have swallowed material from a Mercury-like planet.
An international team led by Stéphane Pelletier, a student at the Trottier Institute for Exoplanet Research at the University of Montreal, recently announced that they have conducted a detailed study of the super-hot giant exoplanet WASP-76 b. Using the MAROON-X instrument on the Gemini-North telescope, the team has been able to identify and measure the abundances of 11 a chemical element in a planet’s atmosphere.
These include rock-forming elements whose abundance is unknown to the giant planets in the solar system such as Jupiter or Saturn, the team’s study was published in the journal Nature.
“There are really rare times when an exoplanet hundreds of light-years away can teach us something that would otherwise be impossible to know about our solar system, and that is the case with this study,” Pelletier said.
WASP-76 b is an exotic world, reaching extreme temperatures because it is so close to its parent star, a massive star 634 light-years away in the constellation of Pisces: about 12 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun, with a mass similar to that of Jupiter, but six times larger. Almost times, it is completely “inflated”.
Since its discovery by the Wide Angle Search for Planets Program (WASP) in 2013, many teams have studied it and identified the various elements in its atmosphere. In a study also published in the journal Nature in March 2020, the team found an iron signature and hypothesized that it might be There is iron rain on the planet.
Because it is so close to its star, the temperature of WASP-76 b is well above 2,000 degrees Celsius. At these temperatures, many elements that would normally be rock here on Earth (such as magnesium and iron) are vaporized and exist in gaseous form in the atmosphere. Upper, and studying this strange planet provides an unprecedented view of the presence and abundance of rock-forming elements in the giant planets, since in cold giant planets such as Jupiter, these elements are lower in the atmosphere and impossible to detect.
The abundances of many of the elements Pelletier and his team measured in the exoplanet’s atmosphere — such as manganese, chromium, magnesium, vanadium, barium and calcium — closely match those in the host star as well as our sun.
This abundance is not random: it is a direct product of the Big Bang, followed by billions of years of stellar nuclear makeup, so scientists measure roughly the same composition in all stars. However, it differs from the composition of rocky planets like Earth, which form in a much more complex way.
The results of this new study indicate that giant planets can maintain an overall composition that reflects the composition of the protoplanetary disk from which they formed.
MENAFN09072023000132011024ID1106574245
Legal Disclaimer: The Middle East and North Africa Financial Services Network provides information “as is” without any representations or warranties…whether express or implied. This is a disclaimer of our responsibility for the privacy practices or the content of the sites attached within Our network including photos and videos. For any inquiries regarding the use and reuse of this information resource please contact the above mentioned article provider.
