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Exoplanets, those mysterious worlds in the Milky Way that orbit stars outside our solar system, come in all sizes and flavors, from those potentially made of diamonds to planets with showers of toxic iron. So far, NASA has identified more than 4,000 of these remote exotic destinations through various methods, some of which are extremely Earth-like and may be capable of supporting life.
At the opposite end of the scale from the temperate and habitable planets in the right “Goldilocks” zone, we present the hostile lava world of K2-141b and its insane atmosphere of vaporized rock, wild supersonic winds and massive rocks. glaciers.
Scientists have now created detailed weather simulations for this radical planet in a new research paper from McGill University, York University and the Indian Institute of Science Education, published in the Royal Astronomical Society’s online magazine Monthly Notices.
Originally discovered in 2017, K2-141b is about 50% larger than our Big Blue Marble, but orbits its star KT-141 much closer and revolves around it several times each day of the Earth with one side constantly facing towards. the fiery solar host.
According to the survey, the research team believes this fixed positioning results in two-thirds of K2-141b soaked in perpetual sunlight, causing oceans of boiling lava and evaporated rock to escape into the atmosphere.
“All the rocky planets, including Earth, started out as molten worlds, but then quickly cooled and solidified,” said Professor Nicolas Cowan, a planetary scientist at Canadian McGill University and co-author of the new study. “The lava planets give us a rare glimpse at this stage of planetary evolution.”
In an effort to discern what specific style of atmosphere this roasted exoplanet might exhibit, the scientists targeted K2-141b as it had previously been examined by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope K2 mission and Spitzer Space Telescope. Subject to this level of sunlight penetration, the world’s Mustafar-like magma oceans could theoretically be tens of miles deep.
By carefully modeling the nature of K2-141b’s atmosphere using the characteristics of similar rocky planets in their formula, scientists estimated that its kite-slashing gusts of wind could exceed speeds of 3,900 miles per hour!
Just like Earth’s water cycle in which evaporated H2O rises, condenses, and returns down as rain, the sodium, silicon monoxide and silicon dioxide of K2-141b would fall into the surface lava oceans as measurable precipitation.
“The study is the first to make predictions about K2-141b weather conditions that can be detected from hundreds of light years away with next-generation telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope,” says lead author Giang Nguyen, PhD student at York University works under the supervision of Professor Cowan.
Ahead of next year’s launch of the new James Webb Space Telescope, whose instruments could provide further details on K2-141b, the scientists involved in the project recently obtained a wide range of observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope that contain more precise data to help. to calculate the temperatures for the day and night sides of the roasted exoplanet.
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