For the first time in the outer planet found carbon dioxide

According to the "Scientific American" monthly website reported on August 30, scientists first grasped the clear evidence of the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system containing carbon dioxide.

This discovery not only provides attractive clues on how the exogenous planet forms, but also indicates what will happen with the gradual deepening of the alien world.

Astronomer Jessie Christian Sen said that the drawing data that led the discovery was "colorful."

This drawing, or the map, reveals the atmospheric details of the outer planet WASP-39B. This planet is called "Jupiter" by scientists because its diameter is slightly longer than Jupiter, but the orbital radius that turns around its host star is much shorter than the rail radius of Mercury revolving around the sun. Essence

The exterior planet was initially discovered in the ground observation activity, and was later detected by the Spirzer Space Telescope. The latter data shows that the atmosphere of WASP-39B may contain carbon dioxide, but there is no conclusion.

On July 10 this year, in more than 8 hours, the Wabbu Telescope observed that the planet passed through its host star. In this process, starlight penetrates the atmosphere of the planet, and various molecules in the atmosphere absorb the infrared light of specific wavelengths. Astronomers want to know whether carbon dioxide will "expose their feet" in the spectrum. Lingri was the head of the scientific team in the early days of Lingri Planet Natali Bartalia, "It is there -just jump out of the computer screen like this."

To achieve the goal of detecting life outside the earth, carbon dioxide is found in the planet atmosphere. Of course, astronomers do not expect WASP-39B to carry life-this planet is too close to the host star. They don't even expect the space telescope to clearly discover life on another planet. However, the use of space telescope detection of carbon dioxide helps to lay the foundation for future discoveries.

Astronomers believe that the mixture of carbon dioxide and methane in the planet's atmosphere may be signs of life, the so -called biomarker. Therefore, Christian Sen said that the signal sent by WASP-39B is "half a good biomarker." The Bartalia team builds a model that predicts that the atmosphere of the planet also contains water, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide -but fewer methane.

In the end, to detect life, you may need to be advanced observation equipment than the current space telescope.

Supervision | Sun Yande

Review | Dong Lei

Edit | Guo Qingna

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