Iron rain on WASP-76b is weird, and new studies show this massive, incendiary world is even weirder than we thought.
WASP-76b is a massive, exceptionally hot exoplanet, and everything we learn about it makes it seem even stranger. Image credit: The Cosmic Companion/Created in Universe Sandbox
omewhere around 640 light years from Earth, a massive world 90 percent as large as Jupiter races around its parent star, an astronomical hairsbreadth from the stellar furnace.
Discovered in 2016, WASP-76b races around its F-class star once every 43 hours. These stars are yellow-white, and their metal-rich surface glows at temperatures from 5,700 — 7,000 Celsius (10,300–12,600 F).
Vast quantities of heat from the star (WASP-76) pummel the planet, exciting that world to extreme temperatures. This inferno vaporizes iron on the starlit-side of the world, lifting mammoth quantities of the metal into the atmosphere. As the gas circulates around the Jovian-class planet, entering the night side of the world, the element condenses, falling as iron rain on WASP-76b.
“It’s remarkable that with today’s telescopes and instruments, we can already learn so much about the atmospheres — their constituents, physical properties, presence of clouds and even large-scale wind patterns — of planets that are orbiting stars hundreds of light-years away,” said co-author Ray Jayawardhana, professor of astronomy at Cornell University.
AND… Calcium is Good for the Planet’s Bones!
Much like our own Moon, WASP-76b is tidally-locked to its parent star — one side always faces its orbital partner. Temperatures on the starlit-side of the exoplanet reach 2,425 C (4,400 F), while the “night” side hovers around 1,315 C (2,400 F) — practically reminiscent of an Arizona summer.
An artist’s concept of iron rain streaming down on the dark side of the exoplanet WASP-76b. Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Utilizing the Gemini Remote Access to CFHT ESPaDOnS Spectrograph (GRACES) instrument at Gemini North Observatory near Mauna Kea in Hawaii, astronomers examined the terminator of WASP-76b — the line between sunlit and darkened regions of the world. The investigators came across an unexpected find — ionized calcium in the atmosphere of WASP-76b.
“Recent observations of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b have revealed a diversity of atmospheric species… [We] report a new detection of… ionized calcium… in the atmosphere of WASP-76b,” researchers explain in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
There may be a few ways to explain this detection of ionized calcium, researchers explain.
“We’re seeing so much calcium, it’s a really strong feature. This spectral signature of ionized calcium could indicate that the exoplanet has very strong upper atmosphere winds, or the atmospheric temperature on the exoplanet is much higher than we thought,” describes Emily Deibert, doctoral student at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the University of Toronto.
Dr. Jake Turner of the ExoGemS survey, talks to us about his studies of the magnetic fields of exoplanets. Video credit: The Cosmic Companion
Researchers seek to examine more than 30 additional exoplanets, as part of the ExoGemS survey, seeking to understand the natures of alien atmospheres. This effort will be led by Jake Turner of Cornell University.
“As we do remote sensing of dozens of exoplanets, spanning a range of masses and temperatures,” said co-author Ray Jayawardhana, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), and a professor of astronomy, “we will develop a more complete picture of the true diversity of alien worlds — from those hot enough to harbor iron rain to others with more moderate climates, from those heftier than Jupiter to others not much bigger than the Earth,” Jayawardhana describes.
Roughly 4,500 exoplanets orbiting other stars are currently known, and studies suggest there may be even more planets than there are stars scattered throughout the Milky Way.
Iron rain on WASP-76b is weird, and new studies show this massive, incendiary world is even weirder than we thought.
WASP-76b is a massive, exceptionally hot exoplanet, and everything we learn about it makes it seem even stranger. Image credit: The Cosmic Companion/Created in Universe Sandbox
omewhere around 640 light years from Earth, a massive world 90 percent as large as Jupiter races around its parent star, an astronomical hairsbreadth from the stellar furnace.
Discovered in 2016, WASP-76b races around its F-class star once every 43 hours. These stars are yellow-white, and their metal-rich surface glows at temperatures from 5,700 — 7,000 Celsius (10,300–12,600 F).
Vast quantities of heat from the star (WASP-76) pummel the planet, exciting that world to extreme temperatures. This inferno vaporizes iron on the starlit-side of the world, lifting mammoth quantities of the metal into the atmosphere. As the gas circulates around the Jovian-class planet, entering the night side of the world, the element condenses, falling as iron rain on WASP-76b.
“It’s remarkable that with today’s telescopes and instruments, we can already learn so much about the atmospheres — their constituents, physical properties, presence of clouds and even large-scale wind patterns — of planets that are orbiting stars hundreds of light-years away,” said co-author Ray Jayawardhana, professor of astronomy at Cornell University.
AND… Calcium is Good for the Planet’s Bones!
Much like our own Moon, WASP-76b is tidally-locked to its parent star — one side always faces its orbital partner. Temperatures on the starlit-side of the exoplanet reach 2,425 C (4,400 F), while the “night” side hovers around 1,315 C (2,400 F) — practically reminiscent of an Arizona summer.
An artist’s concept of iron rain streaming down on the dark side of the exoplanet WASP-76b. Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Utilizing the Gemini Remote Access to CFHT ESPaDOnS Spectrograph (GRACES) instrument at Gemini North Observatory near Mauna Kea in Hawaii, astronomers examined the terminator of WASP-76b — the line between sunlit and darkened regions of the world. The investigators came across an unexpected find — ionized calcium in the atmosphere of WASP-76b.
“Recent observations of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b have revealed a diversity of atmospheric species… [We] report a new detection of… ionized calcium… in the atmosphere of WASP-76b,” researchers explain in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
There may be a few ways to explain this detection of ionized calcium, researchers explain.
“We’re seeing so much calcium, it’s a really strong feature. This spectral signature of ionized calcium could indicate that the exoplanet has very strong upper atmosphere winds, or the atmospheric temperature on the exoplanet is much higher than we thought,” describes Emily Deibert, doctoral student at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the University of Toronto.
Dr. Jake Turner of the ExoGemS survey, talks to us about his studies of the magnetic fields of exoplanets. Video credit: The Cosmic Companion
Researchers seek to examine more than 30 additional exoplanets, as part of the ExoGemS survey, seeking to understand the natures of alien atmospheres. This effort will be led by Jake Turner of Cornell University.
“As we do remote sensing of dozens of exoplanets, spanning a range of masses and temperatures,” said co-author Ray Jayawardhana, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), and a professor of astronomy, “we will develop a more complete picture of the true diversity of alien worlds — from those hot enough to harbor iron rain to others with more moderate climates, from those heftier than Jupiter to others not much bigger than the Earth,” Jayawardhana describes.
Roughly 4,500 exoplanets orbiting other stars are currently known, and studies suggest there may be even more planets than there are stars scattered throughout the Milky Way.
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