Ultra-hot exoplanet transiting in front of host star, illustration
Illustration of an ultra-hot exoplanet (planet outside the Solar System) transiting in front of its host star. When light from the star passes through the planet’s atmosphere, it is filtered by the chemical elements and molecules in the gaseous layer. With sensitive instruments, the signatures of those elements and molecules can be observed from Earth. Using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers were surprised to find the heaviest element so far in an exoplanet's atmosphere, barium. Barium was found at high altitudes in two exoplanets classified as ultra-hot Jupiters, WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b. This discovery indicates that there is still much to be learned regarding the unique atmospheric compositions of these exoplanets.
Size: 6220px × 3850px
Location:
Photo credit: © M. KORNMESSER/EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, background, barium, black, cgi, digitally, echelle, espresso, exoplanet, exoplanets, extrasolar, gas, generated, giant, giants, host, hot, illustration, jupiter, jupiters, large, observations, orbit, orbiting, planet, planetary, rocky, science, space, spectrograph, spectroscopic, stable, star, systems, telescope, transit, transiting, tylos, ultra-hot, vlt, wasp-121, wasp-121b, wasp-76, wasp-76b
