NASA’s Hubble spacecraft finds evidence of an Earth system on a nearby ‘Hot Jupiter’ exoplanet – despite a blowing surface temperature of 2,192 ° F
- Researchers studied images of WASP-31b taken with the Hubble telescope
- WASP-31b is a super hot ‘puffy planet’ 1,305 light-years away from Earth
- It is quickly locked, with one side facing the star and the other looking out into space.
- Temperatures can reach as high as 2,192F in the day-to-night zone
- This is where researchers say the chemical chromium hydride could transform liquid and gas and produce strong winds from day to night.
NASA’s Hubble Space telescope has seen possible signs of a weather system on a Jupiter-sized exoplanet that is heated, with a surface temperature of 2,192F.
Researchers from the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and the University of Groningen studied images of WASP-31b taken with the famous telescope.
WASP-31b is quickly locked, with one side always staring at its solar-sized star – in the ‘twilight zone’ between the two zones the temperature reaches 2,192 degrees F.
The experts found evidence of chromium hydride in this zone – at temperatures and pressure levels that would allow it to transition between liquid and gas – forming a weather system while it rains at night and as a gas on the side of the day.
This is an important discovery, the team says, because a weather system is a key feature that astronauts look for when finding a planet suitable for life – and if you find one on such an unstable world that could make the process easier for ‘friendlier planets’.
NASA’s Hubble space telescope has seen evidence of a weather system on a ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanet – suggesting that the world may be fit for life
In the ‘evening zone’ – the area between the star and the side of space – temperatures can reach as high as 2,192 degrees Fahrenheit (2,100 C)
WASP-31b is a ‘puffy world’ that is about 1.5 times the size of Jupiter but with about half its mass – it moves around its host star dwarf every 3.4 days.
‘Hot Jupiters, including WASP-31b, will have the same side against their host star,’ said SRON Exoplanets co-author and program director Michiel Min.
So we expect a day side with chromium hydride in gaseous form and a night side with liquid chromium hydride.
‘According to theoretical models, the large temperature difference creates strong winds. We want to prove that with ideas. ‘
Exoplanets are currently too far away to reach human-built probes, but Earth-based telescopes and equipment can provide insight into their atmosphere.
They can use fingerprints in the atmosphere – including traces of chemicals and specific temperatures in which they are found – to determine things like weather systems.
These fingerprints allow astronauts to find out what substances are in the exoplanet’s atmosphere – and one day use that to find evidence for alien life.
Finding evidence of a weather system on a planet may be one sign life, according to Dutch researchers.
While the ‘puffy’ WASP-31b appears to be too hot for life to come, finding evidence of an atmospheric weather system helps astronauts learn more about how weather systems can creating an alien and strange world.
WASP-31b is an ‘intense planet’ 1,305 light-years away from Earth – the planet is quickly locked, with one side always staring and the other out into space
Researchers from the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and the University of Groningen studied images of WASP-31b taken with the famous telescope
Finding chromium hydride at the boundary between liquid and gas is like clouds and water – at least it’s in water on Earth.
First author Marrick Braam and colleagues found evidence in Hubble data for chromium (CrH) in the WASP-31b exoplanet atmosphere.
This is the first time it has been found on the hot planet Jupiter and at the right pressure and temperature for it to function as a weather system.
‘We should add that we only found chromium hydride using the Hubble space telescope,’ said Braam, adding that they had not seen it in ground-based telescopes including a Large Telescope. the laboratory of the Southern European Observatory in Chile.
They won’t be able to determine if chromium is in fact evidence of a weather system on the planet until the Hubble fan – the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is launched later this year.
The Dutch team hopes to use it to study WASP-31b, and other Jupiter-type hot planets, to determine if and how a weather system would work.
Co-author Floris van der Tak says, ‘With JWST we are looking for chromium hydride on ten planets with different temperatures, to better understand how the weather systems on these planets depend to the temperature. ‘
The findings were published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Scientists study the atmosphere of distant exoplanets using giant space satellites like Hubble
Distant stars and their orbiting planets are often in conditions unlike anything we see in our atmosphere.
To understand these new worlds, and what they have made, scientists need to be able to discover what is in their atmosphere.
They often do this using a telescope similar to the Nasa Hubble Telescope.
These giant satellites scan the skies and lock on exoplanets that Nasa thinks would be interesting.
Here, the on-board sensors perform various monitoring methods.
Absence spectroscopy is one of the most important and useful.
This type of analysis measures the amount of light coming out of a planet’s atmosphere.
Each gas emits a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens a black line appears on an entire spectrum.
These lines correspond to a specific molecule, which indicates its presence on the planet.
They are often called the Fraunhofer series after the German astronomer and physicist first discovered them in 1814.
By combining the different light waves, scientists can determine all the chemicals that make up a planet’s atmosphere.
The key is what is needed, handing out the ads to find out what is present.
It is extremely important that this be done with space telescopes, as the Earth ‘s sensation would then penetrate.
Suction from chemicals in our atmosphere would seep out of the sample, which is why it is important to study the light before it has reached Earth.
This is often used to look for helium, sodium and even oxygen in an alien atmosphere.
This diagram shows the passage of light from a star and through an exoplanet atmosphere by Fraunhofer lines showing the presence of major compounds such as sodium or helium.