Water Cycle In Ultrahot Jupiters

Image for representative purpose only.

Know About Ultrahot Jupiters And The Amazing Water Cycle Occuring In Them

The advancement in space science and technology is leading to ground breaking research and development in the field of space exploration by different space agencies worldwide. Astrophysicists are always curious to find, observe and study different exoplanets outside our solar system. In April this year, one of the leading space agency NASA launched its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) system to study different exoplanets beyond our own solar system. Another recent achievement in the search of exoplanet by the leading space agency ISRO which made India in the list of among the top few countries to discover exoplanet beyond our own solar system. Several studies have revealed different types of exoplanets with their own unique characteristics. One new class of exoplanets spreading throughout the universe and increasingly visible to astronomers is known as 'Ultrahot Jupiter'. These immensely hot gaseous giants resemble the planet 'Jupiter' present in our solar system in shape and size but they are situated very close to their parent stars (much closer than Mercury from our sun) making them unbearably hot and thus the class name 'Ultrahot Jupiter'. One of their side face the star permanently thus having extreme weather conditions comprising of continuous sunny, extremely high temperature and no possibility of rainfall. This class of exoplanet show unique atmospheric characteristics than other classes of exoplanet due to lack of most of the necessary molecules. 

Researchers are triggered by the undeniable fact that there is no sign of water vapor in the atmospheres of the ultahot class of planets whereas similar systems which are slightly cooler shows abundance of water vapor in their atmospheres. A new theoretical study based on observations by NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes coupled with computer simulations have tried to solve the cause of this surprising scenario. They have stated that Ultrahot Jupiters do have atoms of hydrogen and oxygen required to form water vapor already present in its atmosphere. But the intense heat and radiation on the side of the planet facing the star broke apart the water molecules. Though it is difficult to observe the dark side of Ultrahot Jupiters, yet a model has been proposed on the phenomenon going on the dark side based on detail and repeated observations and analysis of the Ultrahot Jupiter known as WASP-121b. The study suggests that immensely heavy planetary winds shifts the broken atoms from the hotter to the dark cooler side where they can recombine to form vapor. This vapor waits till thrown again into the hotter side by the planetary winds where it will be broken apart again. This amazing water cycle occurs in such Ultrahot Jupiter types of planets and notable observation is that water molecule is not the only thing to recycle. Also  molecules of titanium oxide and aluminum oxide recycle in the dark side by forming vapor and raining down in liquid or fluid form. But still Ultrahot Jupiter's behavior are very much complex than their another counterpart known as 'Hot Jupiter'. 

The TESS Mission of NASA

Image for representative purpose only.

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of NASA to boost its search for exoplanets beyond our solar system

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), one of the space-explorer giant on this planet is on its unique mission to search for different exoplanets beyond our solar system. The main hope for this mission to the NASA scientists is their Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite system or in short TESS. This giant leap for the search of exoplanets beyond our solar system that could support life by blocking the light from its parent star in a periodic manner or the event is better known as Transits. The TESS system launched today on 16th April, 2018 will search for nearly 20,000 brightest stars near the sun beyond our solar system to search for a possible exoplanet that could support life. Scientists at NASA hope that this TESS system will help to vastly increase the current number of known exoplanets and will enable future researchers for comprehensive follow-up studies by providing a rich set of new targets. It is expected that the new exoplanets that will be discovered by TESS will contain both earth-sized planet and giant planets no longer than twice the size of earth. The TESS will survey the entire sky for two long years dividing it into different sectors and will only investigate the stars 30 to 100 times brighter than those of Kepler mission. The main principle behind transit method for searching exoplanets is to search for dip in visible light or apparent brightness of the stars and periodic dips enable researchers to study a lot about the exoplanets. The size of a planet can be determined from the amount of dip in light the planet causes to its star and the shape of the planet and its time for revolution around its sun can also be determined. This transmit photometry method will enable TESS to create a lists of thousands of exoplanets which after compiling will confirm the truth of the exoplanet by ground-based follow-up observations. The ground based telescopes will collaborate with other to determine the masses of the planet. The above data will help to determine the planet's compositions using ground-based follow-up systems. This will further confirm the nature of those giants if they are rocky, gaseous or something unusual matter. The atmosphere of these exoplanets will be studied by following-up with different ground- and space-based missions. Thus the TESS mission will give a broad overview of numerous exoplanets nearest to our solar system and will surely enable us to discover some earth or giant-sized planets that have the capability to support life on it.

Source: NASA