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JPL machines that created a simulated hot Jupiter. Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Humans have not yet figured out how to get up close to the stars to study exoplanets. But NASA has accomplished the best thing possible: recreating the atmospheres of weird alien worlds right here on Earth.
Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, have managed to create a simulated version of a "hot Jupiter". These worlds have a scale similar to that of Jupiter, but their orbit is much closer to that of any planet on our planet. solar system, with years that do not last more than 10 days. As a result, atmospheres of hot Jupiters can reach striking temperatures in excess of 2,800 ° C (5,000 ° F).
A team led by JPL researcher Benjamin Fleury created similar conditions in a lab using a hydrogen recipe and a small pinch of carbon monoxide. (Carbon and hydrogen are extremely common materials in planet formation.)
Art concept of a hot Jupiter. Image: Kevin Gill
Fleury and his colleagues heated the mixture up to 1100 ° C (2000 ° F) in a furnace-like device. The team projected the gas with UV and optical rays with a lamp placed next to an oven window. This technique was designed to probe photochemistry – the chemical effects of light – in the atmospheres of these planets.
The results present the "first experimental laboratory simulation of photochemistry in atmospheres of carbon-rich exoplanets at high temperatures", according to a study by Fleury's team published in The astrophysical journal.
When the simulated hot Jupiter was exposed to these high temperatures and these beams of starry light, its mixing of hydrogen and carbon monoxide is partially transformed into water and carbon dioxide. This corroborates past observations of water vapor in the atmospheres of hot Jupiters and suggests that water may be more common on these planets than previously assumed.
Photochemical reactions also catalyzed the formation of thick condensed aerosols leading to an atmospheric disorder. Aerosols have been detected in very hot Jupiters, but their role in producing the opaque appearance and atmospheric dynamics of exoplanets is not well understood.
Read more: This extraterrestrial world evaporates faster than any known planet
"This result changes the way we interpret Jupiter's foggy atmosphere," Fleury said in a JPL statement on Thursday. "In the future, we want to study the properties of these aerosols, we want to better understand how they are formed, how they absorb light and how they react to changes in the environment."
"All this information can help astronomers understand what they see when they observe these planets," added Fleury.
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