New observations with the James Webb telescope have helped astrophysicists obtain valuable information about how the distant ‘exoplanets’ are formed and what can be the composition of their atmospheres.
When studying two young exoplanets in an extraordinary detail, they discovered that one of them had clouds of silicate in their atmosphere and, the other a circumplanetary disc that is believed to feed the material that can form moons.
The International Team of Scientists, led by Kiean Hoch, of the Institute of Sciences of the Baltimore Space Telescope (United States), made these findings when studying the YSEs-1 supersystem, which helps to understand the origin of our own solar system and allows us to observe in real time how a planet similar to Jupiter is formed.
Understanding how long it takes to form planets and the chemical composition at the end of the formation is important to know what the basic components of our own solar system were.
In addition, comparing these young systems with ours, provides clues on how our own planets have changed over time.
“The exoplanets photographed directly, that is, the planets outside our own solar system are the only exoplanets of which we can really take photos,” explains Evert Nasedkin, of the Trinity College of Dublin, co -author of the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Using spectroscopic instruments aboard the James Webb space telescope, Hoch, together with an international astronomer team, obtained broad spectra of two giant exoplanets and young people who orbit around a star similar to the sun, YSES-1.
These planets are several times larger than Jupiter and orbit away from its host star, which highlights the diversity of exoplanetary systems, even around stars like our own sun.
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Study of two exoplanets sheds light on the formation of the solar system and Jupiter
“These exoplanets are usually so young that they are still hot because of their formation, and it is this heat, visible in the thermal infrared, what we observe astronomers,” says Nasedkin.
The objective of the study was to measure the spectra of these exoplanets to understand their atmospheres.
The different molecules and cloud particles absorb different wavelengths of light, which confers a characteristic ‘footprint’ to the planet’s emission spectrum.
“When we observe the smallest and most distant partner, known as YSES 1-C, we find the revealing firm of silicate clouds in the middle infrared. Essentially composed of particles similar to the sand, it is about the strongest silicate absorption feature observed so far in an exoplanet,” explains Nasedkin.
“We believe that this is related to the relative youth of the planets: the youngest planets have a slightly larger radio, and this extended atmosphere can allow the cloud to absorb more light emitted by the planet. Through detailed models, we could identify the chemical composition of these clouds, as well as details about the shapes and sizes of the particles of the clouds,” he says.
The inner planet, YSES-1B, gave other surprises: although the entire planetary system is young, with 16.7 million years, it is too old to find signs of the planetary training disc around the host star.
However, around YSES-1B, the team observed an album around the planet itself, which is believed to feed the planet material and serve as a place of birth of moons, similar to those observed around Jupiter.
To date, only three other albums of this type have been identified, both around significantly younger objects than YSES-1B, which raises new questions about how this album can be so long.
“This work highlights the incredible capabilities of James Webb to characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets. With only a handful of exoplanets that can be directly photographed, the YSES-1 system offers a unique vision of atmospheric physics and the formation processes of these distant giants,” says Nasedkin.
With EFE information.
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