Astronomers detect the heaviest elements in the exoplanet’s atmosphere

KOMPAS.com – Astronomers have discovered something disconcerting in the atmosphere of two planet out Solar system or as it is commonly called exoplanet. Experts note that the two planets have the heaviest elements.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT ESO), astronomers discovered the heaviest element, barium in the atmospheres of the ultra-hot exoplanets WASP-76b and WASP-121b.

Both planets orbit stars outside our Solar System.

This unexpected discovery raises questions about what the atmosphere was like.

“The puzzling part is why there are such heavy elements in the upper atmospheres of these planets,” said Tomas Azevedo Silva, a researcher at the University of Porto, Portugal.

Quoted by Phys, On Monday (10/17/2022) two planets, WASP-76b and WASP-121b, are not ordinary exoplanets.

Read also: Astronomers find young exoplanets, these planets formed in strange ways

The two exoplanets are known as ultra-hot Jupiter, because they are comparable in size to Jupiter despite having extremely high surface temperatures, reaching over 1000 degrees Celsius.

This is due to its proximity to its parent star, which also means that an orbit around each star only takes a day or two.

It also gives the planets unusual characteristics, such as WASP-76b, which astronomers suspect is raining iron on the planet.

But astronomers were even more surprised when they discovered the element barium, which is 2.5 times heavier than iron, in the upper atmospheres of the exoplanets WASP-76b and WASP-121b.

“Given the high gravity of the planets, we expect heavy elements such as barium to rapidly fall into the layers of the lower atmosphere,” explains Olivier Demangeon, a researcher at the University of Porto.

The discovery of the heavier element in the atmospheres of these two exoplanets is a coincidence in itself, as astronomers did not expect or specifically look for barium previously.

Read also: Similar to the solar system, astronomers find habitable exoplanets off Earth

They also had to verify that the element really came from the planet because it had never been seen on an exoplanet before.

But the fact that barium was detected in the atmospheres of these two extremely hot exoplanets suggests that the category of planets may be even stranger than previously thought.

The question for scientists is what natural processes could cause heavy elements to be found high up in the exoplanet’s atmosphere.

“Right now we’re not sure what the mechanism is,” Demangeon said.

Further determination of the composition of the exoplanet’s atmosphere requires special equipment.

Read also: New giant exoplanet detected by NASA satellite, like what?

The team used the ESPRESSO instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile to analyze starlight that had been filtered through the atmospheres of WASP-76b and WASP-121b.

This made it possible to clearly detect some of the elements contained in it, including barium.

These results touch only the surface of the mysteries of exoplanets. Furthermore, using more advanced future tools such as the ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph (ANDES), which will operate on ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the researchers hope to do more.

With the instrument, researchers can study the atmospheres of large and small exoplanets, including rocky Earth-like planets.

It also explores much deeper to collect more clues about the strange nature of the planet.

The results of the astronomers’ research on the heavier elements in the atmospheres of these two exoplanets were published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Read also: Amateur Scientists Find 2 Exoplanets Orbiting Sun-Like Stars, What Are They?

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