Why is the atmosphere of the hottest planet in the Milky Way galaxy full of metals?

By studying the light emitted by stars, astronomers saw the outer layer of the earth beyond 850. It is not only an ordinary wireless planet, but also the hottest one we have found now-we have determined that at least seven metals are floating in the atmosphere around the gas.

This alien star is called WASP- 12 1B, which is what we call "hot Jupiter", because it is a gas giant and very close to the main star, which makes it have a temperature with the star itself. Match the enemy. Of course, even if the main star is a cold star, it is still a star.

In the outer layer of the earth, WASP- 12 1B is very famous. It was first discovered on 20 15. The mass of this kit is 1. 18 times, the volume of Jupiter is 1.8 1 times, and that of period of revolution is only 1.27 days. Two years later, it became the first extraterrestrial earth-it was found in the flat flowing layer, even if the planet got a lot of heat, it was very inappropriate.

Now, astronomers "close the lens" to observe the atmosphere and find that they are very surprised.

The temperature between 2500-3000°C (about 4500-5500°F) is still not the hottest temperature we have seen on other planets. But it is too hot, which makes the atmosphere more than the atmosphere of the planet observed in previous studies and observations. These atmospheres not only form many complex molecules at such high temperatures.

Early studies show that the molecule contains rare vanadium element, but no titanium element, which can well explain the spectrum of WASP- 12 1B atmosphere observed in the previous paragraph.

"Previous studies have tried to explain these complex observations with seemingly unpleasant theories," said Jens Hoymkes of the University of Geneva and Oxford. "But in the end, it turns out that these theories are correct. I happened to find that it did find the vanadium element under observation. "

It is not easy to explore the atmosphere outside. First of all, you need to seize the opportunity between us and the outer stars of the main star. You must take the first step to explore the outer planets. This is a very good way-what you see on the stars is extremely boring. An unusual small bright spot actually tells you that there is a big substitute moving around the star.

In order to study its atmosphere, you even need a weak signal.

When the outer earth is in front of the stars, there will be some light in the atmosphere. Through some elements in the atmosphere, some specific light will be absorbed and enhanced. If the full wavelength spectrum can be captured, these elements will appear in the absorption spectrum and emission spectrum. If you think this signal is not very strong, it is accompanied by a lot of interference. Therefore, you need a good "noise reduction" device when starting to avoid data damage.

We can enhance the signal by overlapping with various transition spectra and make them clearer-so short-lived periodic exoplanets give us the opportunity to capture transition spectra and make them easier to analyze. For example, a wireless planet like Jupiter is 12, and its series cannot be ideal "candidates", but the public orbit change of WASP- 12 1B is very helpful.

In order to obtain powerful WASP- 12 1B, Hoeijmakers and his team used three transition spectra and processed the data. These three spectra were previously observed in the polished mirror of the vertical mirror spectroscope with a diameter of 3.6 meters at the Southern European Observatory. They found an interesting metal mixture in the atmosphere of the outer planets, which of course contains the vanadium element we just mentioned. Next, the research team found special spectral signals of iron, chromium, calcium, sodium, magnesium and nickel. It is worth noting that no early research found titanium.

"Because the temperature on WASP- 12 1B is too high, all metals can be evaporated into gas, so we can use gas to determine a part of the planet." Hoeijmakers explained.

Hot Jupiter is also a mystery, just as this analysis of planetary atmosphere can help us better understand them. We don't know why they are so close to the stars, they are so close, we don't know. Only by studying their environment can we know whether they formed there or whether they may be "immigrants" from distant and distant orbits. But these studies will also help us to expand the exploration of alien planets and find the toolbox of alien life. The technology we now use to identify iron and sodium, coupled with more sensitive and effective equipment, finally helped us find the oxygen and methane molecules used by organic organisms.

"By exploring the world beyond the earth, we are not limited to measurement now," Hoeijmakers said. "We are beginning to understand the instructions of instruments and equipment to display our data, and to understand the similarities and differences between planets. Similarly, when describing the characteristics of countless animal species, Charles Darwin may begin to study new evolution. We began to study and learn more about how aliens were formed and what kind of operating rules. "