2023-07-17 09:33:29
José Vinés and Ricardo Ramírez, students of the PhD in Sciences with a mention in Astronomy from the University of Chile, were part of the international investigation that revealed this unusual exoplanet that, according to the scientists in charge of the study, “should not exist” and It is the brightest planet ever found. The results were published in the latest issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
“We think that the upper layers of the atmosphere of this planet contain elements such as titanium and silicate (the latter is part of the components of sand and glass). This world is a very bright object, reflecting light from its host star. Without going any further, it is the brightest ever found… to date“, Explain Ricardo Ramirezstudent of the Doctorate in Sciences mention Astronomy of the University of Chile, who participated in the international investigation that discovered this strange exoplanet located 260 light years from Earth.
The importance of the study also lies in the fact that Until before this work, it was believed that planets the size of Neptune could not exist in orbits close to a star., since they would lose their atmosphere, which is why that region was known as the “Neptunian desert”. But the team behind this research, made up of scientists from various countries, managed to find worlds of this type, including this strange planet named LTT9779b. The unusual object, discovered in 2020, was announced this Monday, July 10, in the latest edition of the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
“We have discovered this ‘extremely strange’ object that appears to have highly reflective metallic clouds high in its atmosphere“, Explain James Jenkins, academic at the U. Diego Portales and one of the researchers at the Center for Astrophysics and Related Technologies (CATA) who participated in this work. He further details that “although the planet has a temperature of around 2,000 ° Celsius, it still has clouds, but not water clouds as we know them on Earth, but titanium and silicate clouds, metal clouds.” Thus, it is believed that these clouds could condense into drops, so titanium rains would be possible in some parts of the atmosphere.
This new planet, which the researchers called a “rare beast” or “the planet that should not exist” is a true giant mirror in space. The discovery was made using the Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS), a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA) with which it was determined that this planet is even more reflective than Venus. For the investigation, in addition, they developed the method of secondary eclipses, looking for the light of the star reflected in the planet due to some clouds or mists that are reflective.
So few worlds of this type have been discovered that each one involves a tremendous amount of work to understand its characteristics. and thus better understand the conditions that could have led to the formation of planets in this region and the process that could cause the lack of planets. “The few planets beyond LTT9779b are all dense rocky worlds, probably without an atmosphere, making them difficult to study. Furthermore, most of the rocky planets and hot Jupiters that we have previously studied in similar ways are dark, which means that they probably do not harbor such reflective clouds in the atmosphere,” adds James Jenkins.
Sergio Hoyerfrom Aix Marseille Université, together with Vivien Parmentier from the Université Côte d’Azur, were the first authors of this research published in Astronomy & Astrophysics under the title “The extremely high albedo of LTT 9779 b revealed by CHEOPS“. The study, also highlighted by the European Space Agency (ESA, for its acronym in English), also had the participation of the student of the Doctorate in Sciences mention Astronomy of the University of Chile, Jose Vines.
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