Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Artist’s conception of the HD 149026 b. Evidence of water vapor in this Hot Saturn’s atmosphere has been discovered. Credit: Astrobiology Centerlocated approximately 250 light years away in the constellation of Hercules. Similar in size to Saturn, this hot gas giant orbits its host star at an extremely close distance.
It orbits a metal-rich evolved star, HD 149026, nearly 10 times closer than Mercury’s orbit around the Sun, resulting in a year that lasts only about 2.9 days. This proximity causes the temperatures of such hot gas giants to soar above 1500 Kelvin. Specifically, HD 149026 b has an equilibrium temperature of approximately 1700 Kelvin, hot enough to melt even the strongest steel.To detect atmospheric signatures from the planet, the team used a technique called transmission spectroscopy.
This starlight is absorbed by various gases in the atmosphere, creating a planetary absorption spectrum that is imprinted on the stellar spectrum. By separating the stellar spectrum from the planetary spectrum, such as by subtracting the spectrum observed outside of transit , the atmospheric signatures of the planet can be identified.One major challenge in observing exoplanetary atmospheres is the extremely high contrast between the bright star and the dim planet.
Reference: “Evidence of Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of a Metal-rich Hot Saturn with High-resolution Transmission Spectroscopy” by Sayyed A. Rafi, Stevanus K.
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