Oxygen found on another Planet!
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 162
Likes: 0
From: Cincinnati
Oxygen found on another Planet!
Oxygen detected at faraway planet
Carbon also found in atmosphere of extrasolar world
By Tariq Malik
Updated: 4:49 p.m. ET Feb. 02, 2004Astronomers have detected the first presence of oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet, a world already known to be venting massive amounts of gas into space.
The find is evidence of an atmospheric "blowoff" in action, where energetic hydrogen gas drags heavier elements along for a supersonic ride into space.
"If you imagine a wind so efficient that it takes everything with it, sand particles for instance, you get the idea," said the study's leader, Alfred Vidal-Madjar of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. The planet "is really losing a lot of material even more efficiently than we thought before."
Despite the oxygen, the faraway planet is not one that would support life.
Dismembering
The Jupiterlike planet is officially called HD 209458b, though Vidal-Madjar's team has nicknamed it Osiris after an Egyptian god who was dismembered by his brother Seth. It orbits a sunlike star 150 light-years from Earth.
Astronomers already knew the planet was rapidly losing its atmosphere after a previous study led by Vidal-Madjar found it spewing out enough hydrogen gas to create an envelope that extended and trailed the extrasolar world.
The planet was thought to be losing at least 10,000 tons of material each second, but researchers weren't sure the process was powerful enough to dredge up heavier elements.
Carbon and oxygen atoms are 10 times heavier than those of hydrogen, and therefore would normally lie low in a planet's atmosphere, explained Gilda Ballester, a University of Arizona astronomer who took part in the study. "So a force stronger than gravity is driving them up along with the hydrogen gas into the extended envelope around this planet," she said.
The cause
The venting process has been attributed to a pair of reasons, namely the intense gravitational forces between the planet and its parent star, as well as the super-hot temperature of the planet's atmosphere. HD 209458b circles its stellar parent every 3.5 days from a distance of just 4.4 million miles (7 million kilometers), which is closer than Mercury's orbit around the sun.
The tight orbit causes intense gravitational tiding that stretches the planet's atmosphere into an oval shape, not unlike a rugby ball, which can allow gas to escape. The upper atmosphere itself is baked at up to 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit (10,000 degrees Celsius), which forces hydrogen atoms to expand outward at supersonic speeds.
The hydrogen wind erupts away from the planet like a geyser and is powerful enough to sweep up carbon and oxygen with it.
The planet may eventually shed its entire atmosphere, leaving behind only a solid core remnant of its once massive self. The unique nature of this process has led Vidal-Madjar's team to propose the existence of a new class of extrasolar planets, one which may be populated by the remains of worlds that have shed their atmospheric skins and orbit even closer to their suns than HD 209458b.
The process is similar to one that may have eventually produced the atmospheres around more local planets, such as Venus and Earth, astronomers said.
"The composition of Earth's atmosphere today is so peculiar, that there must exist an efficient process that blew out much of the original material," Vidal-Madjar told Space.com. "Now we are directly observing it in Osiris."
More to learn
The next step, Vidal-Madjar says, is to search for even heavier elements, such as iron, in the envelope around HD 209458b, which would go further in confirming the blowout process.
Vidal-Madjar's team used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe HD 209458b between October and November in 2003. Since the planet partially eclipses its parent star HD 209458 during each orbit, researchers can to probe its atmospheric makeup during the transit. The new research will appear in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
HD 209458b orbits a star in the constellation Pegasus, which can be seen with binoculars from the ground. The planet was first detected in 1999 using the wobble method of planet hunting. A separate team of astronomers previously detected sodium in the planet's atmosphere as well.
© 2004 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.
One of these days, we'll find a planet with an atmosphere similar to ours at a distance to its sun approximate to ours. Then, things will get pretty interesting.
Carbon also found in atmosphere of extrasolar world
By Tariq Malik
Updated: 4:49 p.m. ET Feb. 02, 2004Astronomers have detected the first presence of oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet, a world already known to be venting massive amounts of gas into space.
The find is evidence of an atmospheric "blowoff" in action, where energetic hydrogen gas drags heavier elements along for a supersonic ride into space.
"If you imagine a wind so efficient that it takes everything with it, sand particles for instance, you get the idea," said the study's leader, Alfred Vidal-Madjar of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. The planet "is really losing a lot of material even more efficiently than we thought before."
Despite the oxygen, the faraway planet is not one that would support life.
Dismembering
The Jupiterlike planet is officially called HD 209458b, though Vidal-Madjar's team has nicknamed it Osiris after an Egyptian god who was dismembered by his brother Seth. It orbits a sunlike star 150 light-years from Earth.
Astronomers already knew the planet was rapidly losing its atmosphere after a previous study led by Vidal-Madjar found it spewing out enough hydrogen gas to create an envelope that extended and trailed the extrasolar world.
The planet was thought to be losing at least 10,000 tons of material each second, but researchers weren't sure the process was powerful enough to dredge up heavier elements.
Carbon and oxygen atoms are 10 times heavier than those of hydrogen, and therefore would normally lie low in a planet's atmosphere, explained Gilda Ballester, a University of Arizona astronomer who took part in the study. "So a force stronger than gravity is driving them up along with the hydrogen gas into the extended envelope around this planet," she said.
The cause
The venting process has been attributed to a pair of reasons, namely the intense gravitational forces between the planet and its parent star, as well as the super-hot temperature of the planet's atmosphere. HD 209458b circles its stellar parent every 3.5 days from a distance of just 4.4 million miles (7 million kilometers), which is closer than Mercury's orbit around the sun.
The tight orbit causes intense gravitational tiding that stretches the planet's atmosphere into an oval shape, not unlike a rugby ball, which can allow gas to escape. The upper atmosphere itself is baked at up to 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit (10,000 degrees Celsius), which forces hydrogen atoms to expand outward at supersonic speeds.
The hydrogen wind erupts away from the planet like a geyser and is powerful enough to sweep up carbon and oxygen with it.
The planet may eventually shed its entire atmosphere, leaving behind only a solid core remnant of its once massive self. The unique nature of this process has led Vidal-Madjar's team to propose the existence of a new class of extrasolar planets, one which may be populated by the remains of worlds that have shed their atmospheric skins and orbit even closer to their suns than HD 209458b.
The process is similar to one that may have eventually produced the atmospheres around more local planets, such as Venus and Earth, astronomers said.
"The composition of Earth's atmosphere today is so peculiar, that there must exist an efficient process that blew out much of the original material," Vidal-Madjar told Space.com. "Now we are directly observing it in Osiris."
More to learn
The next step, Vidal-Madjar says, is to search for even heavier elements, such as iron, in the envelope around HD 209458b, which would go further in confirming the blowout process.
Vidal-Madjar's team used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe HD 209458b between October and November in 2003. Since the planet partially eclipses its parent star HD 209458 during each orbit, researchers can to probe its atmospheric makeup during the transit. The new research will appear in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
HD 209458b orbits a star in the constellation Pegasus, which can be seen with binoculars from the ground. The planet was first detected in 1999 using the wobble method of planet hunting. A separate team of astronomers previously detected sodium in the planet's atmosphere as well.
© 2004 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.
One of these days, we'll find a planet with an atmosphere similar to ours at a distance to its sun approximate to ours. Then, things will get pretty interesting.
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,457
Likes: 0
From: Zionsville
> One of these days, we'll find a planet with an atmosphere similar to ours at a distance to its sun approximate to ours. Then, things will get pretty interesting.
Damn straight!
Finally, some proof that people can believe that life can exist in the sextillion other galaxies.
Damn straight!
Finally, some proof that people can believe that life can exist in the sextillion other galaxies.
Registered User
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 900
Likes: 0
From: Richmond, Virginia
Originally posted by thunderchicken
Finally, some proof that people can believe that life can exist in the sextillion other galaxies.
Finally, some proof that people can believe that life can exist in the sextillion other galaxies.
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,457
Likes: 0
From: Zionsville
sextillion stars I meant, not galaxies.
But why can't there be life in this galaxy? From one end to the other is somewhere like 30,000 light years away, we've had life on this planet for millions of years, and if you put that into a percentage from when we started, and when we finally were able to fire someone in outer space, look how long it took.
But why can't there be life in this galaxy? From one end to the other is somewhere like 30,000 light years away, we've had life on this planet for millions of years, and if you put that into a percentage from when we started, and when we finally were able to fire someone in outer space, look how long it took.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 862
Likes: 0
From: Conifer, CO
Originally posted by SonTon2003
One of these days, we'll find a planet with an atmosphere similar to ours at a distance to its sun approximate to ours. Then, things will get pretty interesting.
One of these days, we'll find a planet with an atmosphere similar to ours at a distance to its sun approximate to ours. Then, things will get pretty interesting.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 2,254
Likes: 0
From: Home of LSU TIGERS
I don't see how the entire universe was made for us...........................................
there is no way in us every enjoying the rest of it.. EVER
although I have a few theories
there is no way in us every enjoying the rest of it.. EVER
although I have a few theories
Trending Topics
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 2,254
Likes: 0
From: Home of LSU TIGERS
ahahaha
On a serious note, I think that after we die we will continue our lives on a far away distant planet. It might actually sound quite stupid. I'm actually Catholic believe it or not.. but disagree with some of it's teachings. I just truely can't believe how we are the only ones in this "never ending" universe.
I just hope there is something after we bite the dust... just thinking there is no life after death is a pretty scary thought. I have a lot of free time and ponder on such crazy thoughts.. i know. I just hate NOT knowing...
What do you think?
On a serious note, I think that after we die we will continue our lives on a far away distant planet. It might actually sound quite stupid. I'm actually Catholic believe it or not.. but disagree with some of it's teachings. I just truely can't believe how we are the only ones in this "never ending" universe.
I just hope there is something after we bite the dust... just thinking there is no life after death is a pretty scary thought. I have a lot of free time and ponder on such crazy thoughts.. i know. I just hate NOT knowing...
What do you think?