emirates7 - Scientists may have discovered an atmosphere on a distant planet. Astronomers at NASA used the James Webb Space Telescope to detect evidence suggesting that the rocky planet called TOI-561 b, aka Super-Earth, that exists beyond our solar system, may have an atmosphere.
The ultra-super-hot planet is covered in lava and contains oceans of magma. The description is enough to understand the planet's irrelevance to the Earth. It is too hot and too small, even though it's about 1.4 times the size of Earth, to sustain an atmosphere like our planet, or at least that's what we thought. But new observations suggest that this fiery and lava-covered planet may have a persistent layer of atmosphere, a revelation that could change long-standing assumptions about extreme planets.
In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Nicole Wallack, co-author of the study and a Carnegie Science Postdoctoral Fellow, revealed that the planet is surrounded by a "thick blanket of gas," which contradicts the "conventional wisdom about ultra-short-period planets.”
Johanna Teske, staff scientist at Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Laboratory and lead author, revealed that the planet TOI-561 b has a strangely low density, making it an anomaly among others.
It’s not a super-puff, but it is less dense than you would expect if it had an Earth-like composition," she added. The research team assumed one of the reasons behind the extremely low density to be a small iron core and rocky mantle that is not as dense as Earth's.
“TOI-561 b is distinct among ultra-short period planets in that it orbits a very old (twice as old as the Sun), iron-poor star in a region of the Milky Way known as the thick disk," the researcher revealed. "It must have formed in a very different chemical environment from the planets in our own solar system," Teske added.
The planet might be small, but it appears larger from a distance. Scientists suspected that the thick atmosphere surrounding the planet may have contributed to its larger appearance. Using Webb's NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, researchers measured the planet's daytime temperature by measuring the decrease in brightness when the planet passes behind its star.
The ultra-super-hot planet is covered in lava and contains oceans of magma. The description is enough to understand the planet's irrelevance to the Earth. It is too hot and too small, even though it's about 1.4 times the size of Earth, to sustain an atmosphere like our planet, or at least that's what we thought. But new observations suggest that this fiery and lava-covered planet may have a persistent layer of atmosphere, a revelation that could change long-standing assumptions about extreme planets.
In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Nicole Wallack, co-author of the study and a Carnegie Science Postdoctoral Fellow, revealed that the planet is surrounded by a "thick blanket of gas," which contradicts the "conventional wisdom about ultra-short-period planets.”
Johanna Teske, staff scientist at Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Laboratory and lead author, revealed that the planet TOI-561 b has a strangely low density, making it an anomaly among others.
It’s not a super-puff, but it is less dense than you would expect if it had an Earth-like composition," she added. The research team assumed one of the reasons behind the extremely low density to be a small iron core and rocky mantle that is not as dense as Earth's.
“TOI-561 b is distinct among ultra-short period planets in that it orbits a very old (twice as old as the Sun), iron-poor star in a region of the Milky Way known as the thick disk," the researcher revealed. "It must have formed in a very different chemical environment from the planets in our own solar system," Teske added.
The planet might be small, but it appears larger from a distance. Scientists suspected that the thick atmosphere surrounding the planet may have contributed to its larger appearance. Using Webb's NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, researchers measured the planet's daytime temperature by measuring the decrease in brightness when the planet passes behind its star.