Some exoplanets have properties that are completely foreign to our solar system. Hot Jupiter are such a type. You can have orbital periods of less than 10 days and surface temperatures to well over 4,000 K (3,730 ° C or 6,740 ° F). In contrast to planets in our system, they are usually properly closed.
Astronomers examined the atmosphere of a hot Jupiter and found some strange winds.
The planet is WASP-121 B, also known as Tylos. It is about 860 light years from the earth in the constellation dolls. It has about 1.16 Jupiter masses and a radius about the 1.75 times the Jupiter. It is extremely close to its main star and completes an orbit every 1.27 days. Tyros is cheaply blocked on his star, and its temperature is 3,000 Kelvin (2,730 ° C or 4,940 ° F) and qualifies it as an ultra-hot Jupiter.
“It feels like something from science fiction.”
Julia Seidel, European Southern Observatory
Since its discovery in 2015, the atmosphere of Tylos has been examined many times. The researchers found water in its stratosphere and titanium oxide and vanadium oxide. They also found iron and chrome, although some of these results did not replicate some of the following studies.
In new research, scientists examined the atmosphere of Tylos in more detail with the four telescopes from which the VLT consists. With the help of the Espresso instrument of the VLT, the researchers found strong winds through the atmosphere of the exoplanet and confirmed the presence of iron and titanium. The results are in two new papers.
“Even the strongest hurricanes in the solar system seem to be calm in comparison.”
Julia Seidel, European Southern Observatory
The first paper“Vertical structure of the atmospheric jet current of an exoplanet”, “ was published in Nature. The senior author is Julia Seidel, a researcher at the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
The second is “Titanium chemistry of WASP-121 B with espresso in 4-UT mode”, which was published in the magazine Astronomy and Astrophysics. The senior author is Bibiana Prinoth, doctoral student at Lund University in Sweden, which is also at the European Southern Observatory.
Some of the researchers involved are co -authors of both newspapers.
“Ultra-Hot-Jupiter, an extreme class of planets that cannot be found in our solar system, offer a unique window in atmospheric processes,” write the authors of the natural paper. “The extreme temperature stands in contrast between your day and night and night and night and night sides is a basic climate badge: How is the energy distributed?”
The impression of an artist of Tylos, also known as WASP-121 b. Image with friendly approval: NASA, ESA, Q. Changerat et al., M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)
“The atmosphere of this planet is in a way that questions our understanding of how the weather works – not only on earth, but on all planets. It feels like something from science fiction, ”said Julia Seidel, the senior author of the study published in Nature.
With the power of VLT and espresso, the researchers were able to examine the atmosphere of Tylos in detail. No other exoplanet atmosphere has ever been so detailed and examined in such depth. The researchers created a 3D map of the atmosphere and revealed different layers and winds.
The atmosphere of Tylos is divided into three layers, with Eisenwinden on the ground, followed by a very fast jet stream sodium and finally an upper hydrogen wind layer. This type of climate has never been seen on a planet. Photo credits: ESO/M. Grain knife
“What we found was surprising: a jet current turns the material around the planet's equator, while a separate current moves gas from the hot side to the cooler side in lower levels of the atmosphere. This type of climate has never been seen on a planet, ”said Seidel. The observed jet electricity extends over half of the planet, gains speed and collects the atmosphere violently in the sky while crossing the hot side of Tylos. “Even the strongest hurricanes in the solar system seem to be quiet in comparison,” she adds.
“It is really stunning that we can study details such as chemical make-up and the weather patterns of a planet at such a large distance.”
Bibiana Prinoth, Lund University and the European Southern Observatory
VLT has an interesting design and is invoiced by the European southern observatory as a “astronomical observatory of the most advanced light light” worldwide. It has four main units with 8.2-meter primary mirrors and four smaller, movable help with 1.8-meter primary levels. When working with the espresso instrument, VLT works as a single, powerful telescope. This combined force meant that the VLT collected plenty of data in front of its star during a single transit from Tylos.
“The VLT enabled us to examine three different layers of the atmosphere of the exoplanet for a fall,” said the co-author of the study, Leonardo A. Dos Santos, deputy astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The researchers followed the movement of the wind by tracking the movements of different elements: iron, sodium and hydrogen correspond to the deep, medium and flat layers of the atmosphere. “It is the type of observation that has very difficult to do with space telescopes and emphasizes the importance of ground -based observations of exoplanets,” he adds.
This diagram shows the structure and movement of the atmosphere of the Exoplanet Tylos (WASP-121b). The exoplanet is shown in this figure from above and looks at one of his poles. The planet revolves it towards clockwise that it always shows the same side to its overarching star. One side is eternal day and the other is eternal night. The transition between night and night is the “morning side”, while the “evening page” represents the transition between day and night. The morning side is on the right and the evening side on the left. Photo credits: ESO/M. Grain knife
The observations showed an exoplanetic atmosphere with unusual complexity.
When Tylos crosses in front of his host star, which is known as transit, atoms decrease certain star wave lengths in the atmosphere of the planet, which were measured with the espressoistium of the vlt. With this data, astronomers reconstructed the composition and speed of different layers in the atmosphere. An iron wind blows in the deepest layer, away from the point of the planet where the star is directly over head. There is a very fast sodium beam above the iron layer, which is moving faster than the planet turns. The sodium beam accelerates when it moves from the morning side of the planet to the evening side. The upper layer consists of hydrogen where the wind blows outwards. The hydrogen layer overlaps with the sodium beam underneath.
The authors explain that this unusual planet is more than just a curiosity. Its unusual properties make it a great test bed for global circulation models. “By dissolving the vertical structure of the atmospheric dynamics, we go beyond integrated global snapshots of the atmosphere, enable more detailed identification of river patterns and enable a more differentiated comparison with models,” the authors explain.
The study published in astronomy and astrophysics is also based on data from VLT and espresso. It discovered further details of the Tylos atmosphere, including its chemistry. “The transmission spectrum of WASP-121 B was examined in detail using the cross correlation technology, which led to recognitions and confirmations for various atoms and ions, including HI, MG I, CA, VI, CR I, FE I, NI, FE II , Ca II and KI, BA II ”, the authors write. “We confirm all of these recognitions and also report recognitions for TI I, MN I, CO I SR I and SR II.”
“With this experience, I have the feeling that I am about to uncover incredible things that we can only dream of now.”
Bibiana Prinoth, Lund University and the European Southern Observatory
The researchers found Titan directly under the jet stream. This finding is interesting because earlier examinations recognize Titan and the subsequent examinations refuted this. “We conduct the ability to recognize TI I of the superior photon collecting performance by using espresso in 4-UT mode compared to a single 1 -ut transit and improvements when using the cross correlation technology”.
Cross correlation technology is a powerful method for examining exoplanet atmospheres. Light from the atmosphere is much weaker than light from the star and can be covered by the much stronger star light. The cross correlation technology helps to overcome this by comparing the observed spectrum with the well -known “Template” spectrum of specific molecules and atoms that are expected in the atmosphere.
This illustration shows the two -dimensional cross correlation function of Hi, Li I, Na, Mg I, KI, CA, TI I, VI, CR I, MN I, FE II, CO I, NI I, BA II, SR I and SR II. The last field shows the cross correlation function for the entire atmospheric model. Photo credits: Prinoth et al. 2025.
“It is really stunning that we can study details such as the chemical make-up and weather pattern of a planet at such a great distance,” said Bibiana Prinoth, leading author of astronomy and astrophysics paper.
“The 4-ut-mode of espresso, with its effective photon collection area, which corresponds to that of a 16-meter class telescope.
The examination of the exoplanet atmosphere with floor -based telescopes will soon get a large thrust. In 2028, the long -awaited extremely large telescope was to start operating. It will have a primary mirror of 39.3 meters in diameter, which gives it 250 times more light collection sector than the lifting. Powerful instruments for examining exoplanet atmospheres will also contain powerful instruments.
“The present analysis also enables us to anticipate the observation skills of the soon responsible Elt, in particular with regard to time -solved studies on exoplanet atmospheres,” the authors write.
Who knows what further strangeness is waiting to be discovered in exoplanet atmospheres?
“The elt will be a game change for the examination of exoplanet atmospheres,” said Prinoth. “With this experience, I have the feeling that I am about to uncover incredible things that we can only dream of now.”
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