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Constitution – discovered by scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in America. The first Jupiter-like planet without clouds or haze in its visible atmosphere.
The gas giant named (WASP-62b) was first detected in 2012. However, its atmosphere has not been closely studied, which is an addition the new study provides. Published this month in the “Astrophysical Journal Letters”.
“In my job, I have worked on the characterization of exoplanets,” said Manaza Alam, a graduate student from the Center for Astrophysics who led the study, in a report posted on the centre’s website. By taking pictures of the planets discovered to know the nature of their atmosphere.
The planet WASP-62b, known as “hot Jupiter” is located. It is 575 light years from Earth and represents about half the mass of Jupiter in our solar system.
However, unlike Jupiter, which takes almost 12 years to orbit the sun. The planet WASP-62b rotates around its star in just 4.5 days. This proximity to the star makes it very hot, hence the name “hot Jupiter”.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the researcher recorded data and observations of the planet using spectroscopy. And the study of electromagnetic radiation to help discover chemical elements.
And the researcher specifically observed the planet as it passed its host star 3 times and observed visible light. Who can detect the presence of sodium and potassium in the atmosphere of the planet.
“I admit that at first I was not very excited about this planet,” says Alam. But once I started looking at the data, I got excited. “
Although there was no evidence of potassium, the presence of sodium was striking. On the planet, the research team was able to see all the sodium absorption lines or their fingerprints.
The researcher explains that clouds or haze in the atmosphere would mask the complete signature of sodium. And astronomers can usually only provide small clues to its existence.
“This is solid proof that we see a clear atmosphere, devoid of clouds and fog,” he says.
Cloudless planets are extremely rare. Astronomers estimate that less than 7% of exoplanets have a clean atmosphere, according to recent research.
The first exoplanet known to have a clear atmosphere was discovered in 2018. It’s called WASP-96b, and it’s classified as a hot planet of Saturn.
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