A myriad of strange worlds revolve around stars beyond our own Sun, and some of these oddballs are so exotic that, until they were discovered, their possible existence wasn’t even in the wildest dreams of planet-hunting astronomers. In fact, the first exoplanet observed in orbit around a star similar to our Sun it does not resemble any of the major planets in our Solar System. This exotic, giant crackling, nicknamed 51 Pegasus b-now known as dimidium–was discovered a generation ago, and circled its star fast and close in a tan orbit. As the band giant of our own Solar System, Jupiter, dimidium proved to be a gas giant But until their discovery, astronomers thought that planets like Jupiter could only exist in orbits farther away from their parent stars, roughly where Jupiter lives in the outer region of our Solar System. dimidium It was the first hot jupiter yet to be discovered, but it was far from the last, and it doesn’t even have the distinction of being the strangest. That title possibly goes to a newly discovered soccer ball-shaped. hot jupiter nicknamed Wasp-121b, which is so extremely hot that it sends its atmospheric “heavy metals,” such as magnesium and iron gas, singing into the space between stars. This observation represents the first time that so-called “heavy metals,” that is, atomic elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, have been observed escaping from a Hot Jupiter.
Wasp-121bThe parent star of is hotter and brighter than our Sun. The strange planet is so dangerously close to its star that the temperature of its upper atmosphere rises to 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. A burst of ultraviolet light from the parent star is heating up the troubled planet’s upper atmosphere, causing magnesium and iron gas to howl out into space. Observations made by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging spectrograph revealed the spectral signatures of magnesium and iron far, far away from the hot giant planet. Worse yet, the planet is so close to its stellar parent that it is doomed to be ripped apart soon by the star’s gravitational tidal forces. In fact, the merciless and relentless gravitational forces are so powerful that they have changed the shape of the planet from a sphere to a soccer ball. Tea Wasp-121 The system is nearly 900 light-years from Earth.
the observations of Wasp-121b represent the first time “heavy metals” have been detected escaping from a Hot Jupiter. Usually, hot jupiters they are still cool enough inside to condense heavy atomic elements into clouds. But this is not the case with the fiery Wasp 121 b. “Heavy metal have been seen in others hot jupiters before, but only in the lower atmosphere. So you don’t know if they’re escaping or not. With Wasp 121bwe see magnesium and iron gas so far from the plane that they are not gravitationally bound,” explained Dr. David Sing in a statement dated August 1, 2019. NASA press release. Dr. Sing, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, is the principal investigator of the new study.
The ultraviolet light coming out of the parent star heats the upper atmosphere and helps Heavy metal flee their fiery host planet into the space between the stars. Also, escaping magnesium and iron gas can add to the temperature rise, Dr. Sing added. “Thesis rails it will make the atmosphere more opaque in the ultraviolet, which could be contributing to the heating of the upper atmosphere”, he continued pointing out.
Unfortunately, the tormented scorching planet hugs its parent star so closely that it’s about to be ripped apart. “We chose this planet because it’s very extreme. We thought we had a chance to see heavy elements escape. It’s so hot and so favorable to observe, it’s the best chance to find the presence of Heavy metal. We were primarily looking for magnesium, but there have been hints of iron in the atmospheres of other exoplanets. However, it was a surprise to see it clearly in the data and at such high altitudes so far from the planet. Tea Heavy metal they are escaping in part because the planet is so big and bloated that its gravity is relatively weak. This is a planet that is actively being stripped of its atmosphere,” Dr. Sing went on to explain on August 1, 2019. NASA press release.
According to the terminology astronomers use, a metal refers to any atomic element that is heavier than helium. Therefore, atomic elements such as oxygen, carbon, and neon are classified by astronomers as rails. The term metal it has a different meaning to astronomers than it does to chemists.
Strange crackling gas giants
hot jupiter Exoplanets are unlike any of the major planets that orbit our Sun. Before their initial discovery in 1995, astronomers thought that gas giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn could only be born far from their stellar parents, in the cooler outer regions of their planetary systems. Unlike Jupiter and Saturn, these huge gaseous roasters hug their parent stars so closely that it typically takes them less than three days to complete a single orbit. This means that one hemisphere of these distant exotic worlds always faces its stellar parent, while the other side is always turned away, shrouded in an unchanging cloak of perpetual darkness.
For this reason, the day side of a hot jupiter it is considerably hotter than its nightside, and of course the hottest area of all is the region closest to its dazzling parent star. It is thought that hot jupiters they are also tormented by strong winds that roar eastward near their equators. This can sometimes push the warm region to the east.
After the surprising and historic discovery of dimidium, New theories were quickly proposed to explain the existence of these star-hugging gas giants. Some planet-hunting astronomers suggested that these sputtering, exotic worlds were actually gigantic moten rocks. However, other planetary scientists proposed that they were actually gas giant planets that were born about 100 times farther from their stars. Unfortunately, these unlucky worlds were sent screaming toward their fiery stellar parents due to close collisions with other sister planets or, alternatively, the gravitational jolt of a binary stellar companion to their own star.
Another theory, which has been devised, also suggests that hot jupiters they were originally born as inhabitants of the outer portions of their planetary systems, about the same distance as Jupiter in our Sun’s own family. Unfortunately, these giant planets gradually lost energy due to destructive interactions with their relatives. protoplanetary accretion disks. These spinning, spinning disks are made of gas and dust, and they revolve around young stars, but they also serve as the birthplace of baby planets. The newborn gas giants, as a result of such interactions, begin to spiral closer and closer to the warm, well-lit inner regions of their planetary systems, closer to the gravitational embrace of their stars. Unfortunately, this migration means that the traveling planet is doomed and is destined to experience a violent and horrible end when it is plunged into the roaring fires of its star parent.
Glowing hot jupiters they are a diverse lot that nonetheless display certain important attributes in common:
–By definition, they all have short orbital periods around their stellar parents.
–All of them have large masses.
–Many of them are low-density.
–Most have circular orbits around their stars.
Also, hot jupiters are not generally found in orbit around small red dwarf stars–which are the most abundant true stars, as well as the smallest, that inhabit our Milky Way. Additionally, many of these exotic tan planets are shrouded in extreme and strange atmospheres resulting from their short orbital periods.
hot jupiters they are generally more common F-type and G-type circular stars, but are seen less frequently orbiting K-type stars.
The case of the scorcher, shaped like a soccer ball hot jupiter
Dr. Sing and his colleagues used HST Imaging Spectrograph to search, using ultraviolet light, for the spectral signature of magnesium and iron. This signature would imprint itself in starlight, filtering through WASP-121 b’s atmosphere, while the distant world passed in front of (traveled) the dazzling face of its parent star.
This scorching, weirdly shaped alien planet is also a perfect target for NASA’s next project. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Tea JWST it will have the ability to search for infrared light, which indicates the presence of water and carbon dioxide, both of which can be seen at longer, redder wavelengths. Combining HST Y JWST The images would provide astronomers with a more complete inventory of the chemical elements that make up the soccer-ball-shaped planet’s atmosphere.
Tea Wasp-121b studio is part of Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Treasure (PanCET) survey, which is HST program that aims to hunt 20 exoplanetsranging in size from super lands (several times the mass of our planet) to that of Jupiter (more than 100 times the mass of our planet). This will be the first large-scale comparative ultraviolet, visible, and infrared study of distant alien worlds.
the observations of Wasp-121b contribute to the unfolding story of how planets lose their primordial atmospheres. When planets are born, they trap an atmosphere containing gas that originates from the accretion disk from which the planet and its parent star arose. These primitive atmospheres are composed mainly of the primitive and light gases hydrogen and helium, which were born in the Big Bang at the birth of the Universe almost 14 billion years ago, and are the lightest and most abundant atomic elements. Hydrogen and helium are No classified as rails in the terminology used by astronomers. These primordial planetary atmospheres eventually dissipate as the baby planet moves ever closer to its dazzling parent star.
“Tea hot jupiters are made primarily of hydrogen, and Hubble it is very sensitive to hydrogen, so we know that these planets can lose the gas relatively easily. But in the case of Wasp-121bthe hydrogen and helium gas is coming out, almost like a river, and it’s dragging these rails with them. It’s a very efficient mechanism for mass loss,” explained Dr. Sing on August 1, 2019 NASA press release.
The results of this study are published in the August 1, 2019, online edition of The Astronomical Journal.