he James Webb Space Telescope Make it surprising Discovery When the presence of quartz is detected in… Exoplanet It is located at a distance of about 1,300 light-years from Earth. This important revelation was shared by a pot Details are in an article published in the magazine Astrophysical Journal Letters.
It was quartz Discover in it Exoplanet WASP-17b, located 1,300 light-years from Earth, represents the newest Discovery workmanship James Webb Space Telescope. WASP-17B,A planet It is gaseous, seven times larger than Jupiter, although its mass is less than half that of this gas giant. This amazing discovery was made thanks to the Mid-Range Infrared Instrument (MIRI). James Webb Space Telescope.
Silicates in their pure state, such as quartz, are minerals rich in oxygen and silicon, and are found in abundance on both the Earth and the Moon. However, its presence in the atmosphere Exoplanets It’s rare. In these environments, they are often enriched with magnesium, which adds great value Discovery.
Hannah Wakeford, one of the study’s co-authors, said she was “expecting to see magnesium silicate”, but instead found what were likely to be its “basic components”. In fact, he considers them to be the primary “seeds” for the formation of the much larger magnesium silicates previously discovered in brown dwarf stars and Exoplanets cold
The importance of detecting quartz
the Exoplanets, like WASP-17b, classified as “hot Jupiters”, are composed mostly of helium and hydrogen. However, they also contain small amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor (H2O) in their atmosphere. Detecting quartz in these Exoplanets It allows us to assess the total amount of oxygen present in them, which in turn allows us to understand the processes of their formation and evolution over time.
To analyze the composition of the atmosphere for this Exoplanethe James Webb Space Telescope A continuous monitoring operation was carried out over a period of 10 hours. During this time, a total of 1275 infrared measurements were made. By calculating the wavelength absorbed by clouds in the atmosphere, scientists have produced a surprise Discovery: Unexpected peaks around 8.6 microns were detected, which would not be consistent with the presence of aluminum oxides or magnesium silicates. Instead, these peaks precisely match the properties of quartz.
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