{"id":43447,"date":"2023-03-22T14:06:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T14:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=117312"},"modified":"2023-03-22T14:32:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T14:32:30","slug":"hot-sand-clouds-water-methane-and-co2-found-at-planet-orbiting-two-stars","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/hot-sand-clouds-water-methane-and-co2-found-at-planet-orbiting-two-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot sand clouds, water, methane and CO2 found at planet orbiting two stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Webb Telescope has spotted a young, hot gas giant with a turbulent atmosphere. <\/p>

By Iain Todd\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 22 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Hot clouds of silicate sand have been discovered on a young planet orbiting two distant stars, along with clear signatures of water, methane, carbon monoxide and \u2013 potentially \u2013 carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n

The exoplanet<\/a> \u2013 known as VHS 1256 b \u2013 is just 40 lightyears from Earth and orbits two stars over a 10,000-year period.<\/p>\n

Using the James Webb Space Telescope<\/a>, a team of astronomers led by Brittany Miles of the University of Arizona<\/a> have discovered silicate cloud features in the young gas giant\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Artist\u2019s impression of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: ESA, NASA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems \/ STScI \/ ATG medialab<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

They have also confirmed the presence of water, methane and carbon monoxide and found evidence of carbon dioxide, making it the largest number of molecules ever identified all at once on a planet beyond our Solar System.<\/p>\n

The planet\u2019s atmosphere is continuously rising and churning during its 22-hour day, pushing hotter material upwards and colder material down.<\/p>\n

This causes changes in the planet\u2019s brightness, so much so that it is the most variable planetary-mass object so far discovered.<\/p>\n

High up in VHS 1256 b\u2019s atmosphere, temperatures reach 830\u00b0C, and this is where the team behind the study discovered larger and smaller silicate dust grains within the clouds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe smaller silicate grains in its atmosphere may be more like tiny particles as in smoke,\u201d says study co-author Beth Biller<\/a> of the University of Edinburgh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe larger grains might be more like very hot, very small sand particles.\u201d<\/p>\n

VHS 1256 b is relatively young, having formed just 150 million years ago.<\/p>\n

As a result, heat from its formation process is still present, which is part of the reason its atmosphere is so turbulent.<\/p>\n

\u201cVHS 1256 b is about four times farther from its stars than Pluto is from our Sun, which makes it a great target for the JWST,\u201d says Miles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means the planet\u2019s light is not mixed with light from its stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Infrared spectrum of exoplanet VHS 1256 b. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

This distance from the host star meant that information and data from the exoplanet was not disturbed by the star\u2019s light, giving the team a greater chance at learning more about the planet\u2019s composition.<\/p>\n

They studied spectra of light from the planet using the Webb Telescope\u2019s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).<\/p>\n

\u201cNo other telescope has identified so many features at once for a single target,\u201d says co-author Paul Molli\u00e8re of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing many molecules in a single spectrum from the JWST that detail the planet\u2019s dynamic cloud and weather systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve isolated silicates, but better understanding which grain sizes and shapes match specific types of clouds is going to take a lot of additional work,\u201d says Elisabeth Matthews, also from MPIA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the final word on this planet \u2013 it is only the beginning of a large-scale modeling effort to understand JWST\u2019s complex data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about this story at www.mpia.de<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Read the full paper at arxiv.org\/abs\/2209.00620<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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