There are some strange worlds in the wider universe that make the planets in our solar system seem mundane.
Expectations of planetary development are challenged by mini-Neptunes and super-merceries. Ultra-hot Jupiters, worlds so close to their host stars that their atmospheres are thick with clouds of heavy elements, can be seen.
Astronomers have found the heaviest metal yet in two of the most hardcore worlds they've seen. The atmospheres of WASP-76b and WASP-121b have drift clouds of barium.
Calcium, titanium oxide, and vanadium oxide were found in the atmosphere of WASP-76b and WASP- 121b. Nobody would want to sing in a rain.
At high altitudes, the whole shindiggery takes on a whole new meaning.
Toms Azevedo Silva is an astronomer at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal.
Since it had never been seen in any exoplanet before, we had to cross-check that this was actually coming from the planet.
It's difficult to figure out the chemistry of an atmosphere on an alien planet. You need a transiting exoplanet that passes between us and our host star. The signal needs to be amplified and the data collected. It needs an atmosphere thick enough to allow light from the star to be absorbed as it filters through and re-emitted by the atoms and Molecules within it.
The wavelength of the light is changed by absorption.
It can help us understand the diversity and evolution of exoplanets in the wider universe. Ultra-hot Jupiters are of particular interest. The gas giants are too close to their stars to have formed there, since the gravity, radiation, and stellar winds should have kept the gas from clumping together.
Figuring out what these worlds are made of and what their future looks like can be used to piece together how they came to be.
Both WASP-76b and WASP-121b are very close to their stars on average. They're both very large, with mass densities of 1.18 and 0.92 times that of Jupiter, respectively. The detection of barium is strange.
We are not sure what the mechanisms are for heavy elements like barium to fall into the lower layers of the atmosphere.
The team's work on the two exoplanets has given us more information to chew on. They were able to confirm the presence of previously detected elements in the atmosphere of WASP- 121b.
They were able to confirm that WASP- 121b's atmosphere is leaking and that it is being evaporated by its star. Hot Jupiters are not able to live long term so close to a star.
A lot of the elements are ionized, which will give planetary astronomer a lot to think about.
The presence of heavy ionized species at high altitudes in the atmosphere of ultra-hot Jupiters may be evidence of unexpected atmospheric dynamics.
It is not possible to describe the mechanisms that explain the presence of these species in the upper layers of the atmosphere. We hope that this discovery encourages further atmospheric modeling.
The research was published in astronomy and astrophysics.
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