Astronomers have discovered the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet atmosphere barium. They were surprised to discover barium at high altitudes in the atmospheres of the ultra-hot gas giants WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b two exoplanets, planets which orbit stars outside our Solar System. This unexpected discovery raises questions about what these exotic atmospheres may be like."The puzzling and counterintuitive part is: why is there such a heavy element in the upper layers of the atmosphere of these planets?" says Tomas Azevedo Silva, a PhD student at the University of Porto and the Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco (IA) in Portugal who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b are no ordinary exoplanets. Both are known as ultra-hot Jupiters as they are comparable in size to Jupiter whilst having extremely high surface temperatures soaring above 1000°C. This is due to their close proximity to their host stars, which also ...
http://dlvr.it/Sb8xpV
0 टिप्पणियाँ