Astronomers Discover Heaviest Element In Exoplanet’s Atmosphere: Why It Matters?

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Astronomers Discover Heaviest Element In Exoplanet’s Atmosphere
Photo Credit: ESO

Hunting for exoplanets is a key factor in the search for extraterrestrial life; however, spotting or looking for their orbits isn’t the challenge that astronomers face. It’s imperative to study the conditions by analyzing their atmospheres. Now, astronomers have discovered the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.

 

Tools such as the James Webb Space Telescope enable researchers to peep into an exoplanet’s atmosphere and determine its composition. By observing the conditions of an exoplanet, astronomers can learn how its composition can affect the weather systems, pressure, and temperature of the planet. For the latest discovery, the researchers used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile.

 

Which Element Did Scientists Discover?

The team of researchers closely observed two ultra-hot gas giants called WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b and found the element barium in their atmospheres. Both planets orbit extremely close to their host stars, which results in temperatures reaching over 1,000 degrees Celsius. Their research was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The WASP-76 b is a hellish planet and its extremely high temperature causes iron to fall from the skies as rain. However, the scientists were shocked to find barium in these planets’ atmospheres because it is very heavy.

“The puzzling and counterintuitive part is: why is there such a heavy element in the upper layers of the atmosphere of these planets?” said lead author Tomás Azevedo Silval.

“Given the high gravity of the planets, we would expect heavy elements like barium to quickly fall into the lower layers of the atmosphere,” said Olivier Demangeon, co-author of the study.

What’s The Reason Behind Its Presence?

The discovery has taken the researchers by surprise. The team is still looking for answers to what’s causing this very heavy element to appear in the atmospheres of the exoplanets.

However, identifying the element in two hot Jupiter-like atmospheres can help astronomers study other exoplanets but further research will be required to determine the origin of barium on the planets and how it stays high in the atmosphere.

Are There Any Potentially Habitable Exoplanets?

Recently, astronomers observed two exoplanets, one of them is called LP 890-9b and is around 30% larger than Earth. Another planet is called SPECULOOS-2c, which is around 40% larger than our planet and appears habitable, according to the consortium's new paper.

The interesting thing about the potentially-habitable planet is that it orbits really close to its host star. It is located just 3.7 million miles from its star, in contrast to the 93 million miles between Earth and the Sun.

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