Jakarta – NASA recently discovered sand clouds on a planet outside the solar system or exoplanet. The planet is called WASP-107b which is 200 light years from Earth and is part of the constellation Virgo.
Quoting from detikInet, the planet was discovered in 2017 and scientists revealed the facts. WASP-107b is known to have a mass equivalent to Neptune with a size close to Jupiter. The diameter of Jupiter itself is three times larger than Neptune, so scientists conclude that this planet is ‘smoother’ than the gas planets in our Solar System.
Scientists are also looking into the subtleties of examining WASP-107b’s atmosphere more deeply. From the results of research via NASA’s James Webb space telescope, it was discovered that there were silicate clouds in the atmosphere of this planet. It even contains water, as well as the poisonous gas sulfur dioxide. All of this material circulates in the atmosphere, including through rain made from sand.
This research was carried out by an astrophysicist from Belgium, Leen Decin, who was assisted by several colleagues. To make this research a success, he and his team used the Mid-Infrared Instrument from the James Webb telescope to observe the gas planet.
Leen told Newsweek that we’ve pretty much seen how the chemical laws that apply on other planets differ from those on Earth. That way, we need to open our minds to understand what is happening on this extreme planet, WASP-107b.
“In addition, we have seen that the chemical pathways taken to form certain molecules and solid sand particles are completely different from those we know on Earth. Only by opening our minds, by exploring the terra incognita of extraterrestrial chemical processes, can we understand what what happens in the atmosphere of this extreme planet,” Leen was quoted as saying detikINET from Newsweek, Thursday (16/11/2023)
Meanwhile, the presence of this cloud still leaves scientists with a puzzle. With the temperature of WASP-107b’s upper atmospheric layer only reaching 500 Celsius, it is actually impossible for silicate particles, aka sand, to freeze and form clouds. Logically, these sand clouds should be found in deeper layers of the atmosphere.
“The fact that we see these sand clouds in the upper atmosphere means that the sand raindrops evaporate in deeper, very hot layers,” said research co-author Michiel Min, who is also an astronomer at the University of Amsterdam.
The resulting silicate vapor then moves upwards, then condenses and forms silicate clouds. This process is the same as the steam and cloud cycle on Earth, only this one is made of sand.
Sulfur dioxide was also found, then a fire-triggering gas, which was the first gas discovered on this planet. Natural subtleties trigger the formation of sulfur dioxide and although stars in their orbits release a limited number of high-energy photons, these photons can still penetrate into the atmosphere, encouraging the formation of sulfur dioxide.
Further research is still being carried out by Leen and his team, who of course still use the James Webb telescope.
This article was published on detikInet with the title The Mystery of the Clouds on This Planet Are Made of Sand.
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2023-11-18 20:00:46
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