An international team of researchers has performed incredibly detailed observations of the atmospheric state of exoplanet HD 209458 b. These observations have provide evidence that this planet , which is locate very close to its star , did not form where it is currently situate but probably over 100 times further out .
HD 209458 Bel , site 159 lightheaded - years from Earth , is a satellite of starting time . It was the first planet discovered with thetransit method(where a pip in the brightness from a maven indicates a planet go past in front of it , momentarily blocking the light ) in 1999 . It was also the first extrasolar planet known to have its atmosphere notice , as well as many of its physical property measure . Now , astronomers have added something else . Detailing their findings in the journalNature , this is the first sentence an exoplanet has reveal six chemical component find in its atmosphere .
The squad detect hydrogen cyanide , methane , ammonia , acetylene , carbon copy monoxide , and water vapor . This " chemical fingerprint " was crucial to the research , intimate a planet that was birthed much further aside from its star than HD 209458 b is . The satellite has too much carbon copy for one just 7 million kilometers ( 4,350 million miles ) from its whizz . This composition would make sense if it had take form further out . In our Solar System , this exoplanet would have formed around the compass of Jupiter or beyond ( 750 million kilometers/470 million miles ) .
“ The key chemicals are carbon - comportment and nitrogen - bearing species . If these metal money are at the level we ’ve detected them , this is indicative of an atmosphere that is enriched in carbon equate to oxygen . We ’ve used these six chemical specie for the first time to specialise down where in its protoplanetary disc it would have in the beginning formed , ” Dr Siddharth Gandhi of the University of Warwick Department of Physics explained in astatement .
“ There is no way that a satellite would form with an atmospheric state so rich in carbon paper if it is within the condensate line of water vapor . At the very live temperature of this major planet ( 1,500 K ) , if the atmosphere contains all the elements in the same proportionality as in the parent star , O should be doubly more abundant than carbon and mostly bonded with hydrogen to form water or to C to form C monoxide . Our very dissimilar finding fit in with the current understanding that hot Jupiters like HD 209458b form far away from their current location . ”
HD 209458b was also the first exoplanet where water vapour was discover . In fact , the signal is so clear and firm in infrared light that makes it unmanageable to see other chemical substance , so the team had to work hard to complicate their techniques , using the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands .
" If this discovery were a novel it would begin with ' In the beginning , there was only water … ' because the vast majority of the inference on exoplanet atmospheres from near - infrared observations was free-base on the mien ( or absence seizure ) of piss vapor , which dominates this region of the spectrum , ” go author Dr Paolo Giacobbe , from the Turin Astrophysical Observatory , explained .
“ We demand ourselves : is it really potential that all the other species have a bun in the oven from possibility do not provide any measurable trace ? discover that it is potential to detect them , thanks to our efforts in improving analysis techniques , opens fresh view to be explore . "
