Twinkling stars and their planets in the Universe are filled with clouds of vaporized rock, and the first glimpses of wildly different environments on one of the many varieties of these exoplanets are beginning to appear, clouds of vaporized rock on exoplanets. Some say, and now NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has just begun to provide its first science images and data, and Webb’s upcoming observations include the atmospheres of the strangest exoplanets.
One of the best ways to understand exoplanets’ atmospheres and Earth’s atmosphere will be the first direct observation of clouds, however strange and fascinating they may be, and the atmosphere of any planet tells a lot about that planet.
Tiffany Kataria is an exoplanet scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, whose research focuses on the atmospheric composition and motion of the extraterrestrial atmosphere, uses general circulation models to understand the dynamics of super Earths and hot Jupiters, in The models can be used to directly interpret exoplanetary spectra from ground- and space-based facilities. Dr. Kataria is investigating the role of clouds and haze in the atmosphere of a sample of a hot Jupiter exoplanet, seen a few days ago with HST and Spitzer.
Tiffany Kataria states that many minerals on Earth can condense, as a geologist would study them as rocks on Earth, but studies on an exoplanet are not easy, as minerals can form clouds on exoplanets. Hot gas giants are among the many light exoplanets confirmed in the Milky Way, and may have clouds of vaporized rock because they orbit so close to their stars that their atmosphere must have been terribly hot.
Planetary clouds tell us a lot about the chemistry in the atmosphere, says Kataria, but it becomes a question of how clouds form, and what contribute to the formation and evolution of the entire system. The Webb telescope has many capabilities, including “spectroscopy”, a branch of physics that studies the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by matter, and allows researchers to learn about the internal structure of matter.
Webb telescope splits the light coming from distant planets into a spectrum, after which the light appears like a rainbow, thus allowing scientists to read the types of molecules present in an exoplanet’s environment. Webb has the ability to detect specific types of minerals in exoplanet clouds, and scientists can search for a habitable planet by studying exoplanet clouds in detail where there is evidence of a potentially life-giving planet, such as Earth, Like on a small rocky world.
Clouds effect on the temperature of any planet, as Earth’s temperature is controlled by clouds, clouds hold an important feature on Earth, clouds are an important contributor to planets. If climate is an important consideration for Earth, clouds may also be an important component in the atmosphere of habitable exoplanets, so much we know not how clouds form on Earth, but how clouds evolved in the atmosphere of exoplanets.
Kataria says that investigating the hearts of exoplanet clouds could bring together experts from many scientific fields, as they seek to understand the origin, evolution and atmosphere of other planets in our galaxy.
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