Exoplanet atmosphere detected for first time, no water vapor found
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers for the first time have successfully managed to tease out atmospheric details of an exoplanet. The results, published in the Astrophysical Journal, however, were not appealing for interplanetary travelers since in the absence of oxygen, the dominant gases of helium and hydrogen are incapable of producing water needed for the emergence of life as we know it.
The international team, led by scientists from University College London (UCL) in the UK, announced on Tuesday that the carbon-rich 55 Cancri e (also called Janssen) is a dry planet devoid of any water vapor, leaving extraterrestrial fans unimpressed.
“This result gives a first insight into the atmosphere of a super-Earth. We now have clues as to what the planet is currently like, how it might have formed and evolved, and this has important implications for 55 Cancri e and other super-Earths,” said Professor Giovanna Tinetti of UCL.
Janssen, which is located just 40 light years away in the constellation of Cancer, orbits blisteringly close to its Sun-like parent star 55 Cancri A, also called Copernicus. It is also categorized as a super-Earth exoplanet, meaning it is larger than the Earth but smaller than our Solar System’s gas giants of Neptune and Uranus.
Its total mass is about 8.63 times more than that of our home planet and its diameter is almost twice that of the Earth. A year on Janssen lasts 18 hours and temperatures on its surface are thought to reach around 2,000 degrees Celsius.
“This is a very exciting result because it’s the first time that we have been able to find the spectral fingerprints that show the gases present in the atmosphere of a super-Earth. Our observations of 55 Cancri e’s atmosphere suggest that the planet has managed to cling on to a significant amount of hydrogen and helium from the nebula from which it formed,” said Angelos Tsiaras, a co-author of the research.
Moreover, research suggests that Janssen has amounts of highly poisonous hydrogen cyanide, or prussic acid, on its surface that has turned it into a toxic planet definitely not suitable to harbor life.
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