Astronomers have discovered something puzzling in the atm of two exoplanets : barium . The 56th appendage of the periodic tabular array is the heaviest element ever discovered in the atmospheric state of an exoplanet , detected in the upper layer of two peculiar world , both extremist - live Jupiters : WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b. And we ’re not exaggerating when we say rum . Scientists thinkit rainwater ironon WASP-76b , andliquid sapphires and rubiesmight be falling on the Nox side of WASP-121b .
These gas giantexoplanetsorbit extremely close to their stars , much closer than Mercury is to the Sun . They make incredible temperatures of over 1,000 ° C ( 1800 ° F ) , hot enough to unthaw andvaporize metals , including barium . Although it ’s unclear how the barium grow so gamy up , given that it is 2.5 times heavier than atomic number 26 .
“ The puzzling and counterintuitive part is : why is there such a profound constituent in the upper layers of the air of these planets ? ” run author Tomás Azevedo Silva , of the University of Porto and the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal , said in astatement .
“ yield the high gravity of the planets , we would expect heavy elements like barium to apace fall into the lower layer of the atmosphere , ” added co - author Olivier Demangeon , a research worker in the same institutions .
The presence of barium and the question of how it was enthrall to the upper atmosphere suggests that we might understand less about theseplanets ’ atmospheresthan we antecedently thought . Ultra - hot Jupiters are inflated due to their high temperature which are highly advantageous to contemplate their atmospheres .
“ Being gaseous and raging , their atmospheres are very extended and are thus easy to observe and study than those of minuscule or cooler planets , ” Demangeon explained .
WASP-121b is situate 850 weak - year from Earth , while WASP-76b is site 650 light - year by . The squad used the ESPRESSO instrument on the European Southern Observatory ’s Very Large Telescope in Chile to detect the planets . The light of their respective stars filters through the enlarged air of WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b allow astronomers to work out the composition , include the uncovering of barium .
“ This was in a way of life an ‘ accidental ’ discovery , ” supply Azevedo Silva . “ We were not expecting or looking for barium in peculiar and had to track - check that this was actually coming from the satellite since it had never been seen in any exoplanet before . ”
The field of study is publish inAstronomy & Astrophysics .
