Take A Peek At The Innards Of An Extrasolar Planet That Is Similar To Jupiter, But Very Hot!

Illustration, Planet WASP-189b, similar to Jupiter but very hot. (photo: doc. NASA)

JAKARTA - More than 4,000 exoplanets or exoplanets have been discovered so far, including WASP-189b. This planet is quite unique, strange and claimed to be similar to Jupiter.

The planet WASP-189b is very hot, and orbits so close to its star that its surface temperature can reach 3,200 degrees Celsius, hot enough to vaporize iron.

Using the European Space Agency's (ESA) Characterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) space telescope, astronomers examined WASP-189b's atmosphere, and they found the planet quite strange.

Astronomers admit it's not easy to probe the atmosphere of an exoplanet, but in this case, they can see light coming from a very hot nearby star.

"We measured the light coming from the planet's host star and passing through the planet's atmosphere. The gases in its atmosphere absorb some of the starlight, similar to Ozone which absorbs some of the sunlight in Earth's atmosphere, and thus leaves its characteristic fingerprint. With the help of (HARPS spectrograph) ), we were able to identify the appropriate substance," said the study's lead author, Bibiana Prinoth, in an official statement quoted from Digital Trends, Sunday, January 30.

In addition, astronomers also found indications of gases including iron, chromium, vanadium, magnesium and manganese. One of the substances shown and very interesting is titanium oxide, which can act similarly to ozone in Earth's atmosphere, absorbing ultraviolet radiation.

The research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, also saw a discrepancy between what astronomers predicted and what they actually found.

These findings suggest that the exoplanet's atmosphere could be complex and influenced by strong winds, having different layers composed of different gases.

While Earth's atmosphere has layers, the assumptions when studying exoplanet atmospheres are often simpler. But this research shows that is not necessarily the case.

“In the past, astronomers often assumed that exoplanet atmospheres existed as uniform layers and tried to understand them as such. But our results show that even the intensely irradiated atmospheres of gas giant planets have complex three-dimensional structures," said co-author Jens Hoeijmakers.

Co-author Kevin Heng believes that in order to fully understand these, and other types of planets, including those more similar to Earth, astronomers must appreciate the three-dimensional nature of their atmospheres.

“(namely) it requires innovation in data analysis techniques, computer modeling, and fundamental atmospheric theory,” explained Heng.