Hubble astronomers studying ultra-hot Jupiters have uncovered evidence of strange weather conditions on the blazing hot planets. Jupiter-sized planets are so close to their parent star that they are roasted at temperatures well above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to vaporize most metals, including titanium.
The observations have been described by the researchers in two new articles. One of the articles, published in the magazine Nature on April 7, is about a planet where it rains vaporized rock. The other article, published in the Astrophysical Journal Lettersis about a planet whose upper atmosphere becomes hotter instead of cooler as a result of being “burnt” by its star’s intense ultraviolet radiation.
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Hubble investigates extreme weather on ultra-hot Jupiter. The giant planet KELT-20b is so close to its star that the star’s deluge of ultraviolet radiation heats the planet’s atmosphere to more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) Apr 6, 2022
Astronomers describe Hubble observations of WASP-178b, which is located about 1,300 light-years away, in a paper published April 7 in the journal Nature. The atmosphere is cloudless and rich in silicon monoxide gas during the day. Because one side of the planet always faces its star, the blazing atmosphere whips toward the nighttime side at super-hurricane speeds of more than 2,000 miles per hour.
On the other hand, silicon monoxide can cool enough to condense into rock that rains from clouds, but the planet is hot enough to vaporize rock even at dawn and dusk. “With this silicon monoxide feature, we knew we had seen something very interesting,” said Josh Lothringer of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Guangwei Fu of the University of Maryland, College Park, reported on the KELT-20b, a superhot Jupiter 400 light-years away, in an article published in the Jan. 24 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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The ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs ultraviolet light and raises the temperature in a layer seven to 50 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. The star’s ultraviolet radiation heats metals in the atmosphere of KELT-20b.
According to the study, this results in a very strong thermal inversion layer. An inversion layer is an area or layer of the atmosphere where the temperature does not decrease with altitude but increases.
Water was discovered in near infrared observations by Hubble, and carbon monoxide was discovered by NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. For example, the astronomers discovered the “sunburnt” atmosphere above KELT-20b. The research contributes to a better understanding of the atmospheres of potentially habitable terrestrial planets.