How Exoplanets Become Super-Earths After Losing Their Puffy Atmosphere
Exoplanets located away from the Solar System are of very different types, they cannot be classified like the planets of the Solar System. But from the point of view of common people’s understanding, these planets are given names in comparison to the planets of the solar system, such as Super Earth, or Giant Jupiter. In a new study, researchers have discovered how the atmospheres of planets smaller than Neptune, which are called mini Neptunes, become thinner. The results of this study can be helpful in making a new classification of extraterrestrials.
Classification of Planets can be done in many ways. Its basis is sometimes our Solar System. The characteristics of the planets of stars located far away from the solar system complicate the matter even more. Generally, exoplanets are classified on the basis of size. But for some time now, astronomers have been searching for planets that are larger than Earth, but smaller than Neptune, whose atmospheres are also very thin. A new study has found the reasons for the formation of such planets and the blowing of their atmospheres.
Classification Of Planets
There are two types of planets in our solar system, one is rocky like Earth and the other is giant gaseous planet like Jupiter. Many types of planets do not fit into the categories of our solar system. The radius of these rare planets is greater than that of Earth and less than that of Neptune. The lower planets in this category, which are slightly larger than Earth, are called Super Earths, while those that are smaller than Neptune are called Mini Neptunes.
How Super Earth Is Made
Scientists have been trying to get information about the formation of such planets for a long time. Mini-Neptune-like planets begin with a denser and smaller form of Neptune, but radiation from a nearby star heats the planet’s hydrogen and helium atmosphere so much that these gases escape and form a dense rocky back. If the core remains, then it is still bigger than the earth, which can have a thin atmosphere.
But astronomers using the Hubble Telescope and the Keck Observatory have found two cases of mini-Neptunes that lose their bloated atmosphere and turn into a super-Earth. This shows yet another evidence of diversity in planets. This new investigation explains how such planets form and develop, as well as what causes interesting differences in the size of the planets of stars.
Study Of Planets Of Two Different Stars
In new research, astronomers used the Hubble Telescope to study two mini-Neptune planets orbiting a star named HD 63433, which is 73 light-years away. At the same time, two mini-Neptune planets of the TOI 560 star, located 103 light-years away, were studied through the Keck Observatory.
Gas Out Of The Atmosphere
Studies have found that the mini-Neptunes inside TOI 560 TOI 560.01 (or HD 73583b) and the outer mini-Neptune 63433c of HD 63433 are moving out of the atmospheres, suggesting that they are about to turn into super Earths. Such an observation has never been found before.
More interestingly, it has also been learned that the gas emanating from the planet TOI 560.01 is going towards the star of the planet. This is an unexpected observation, with most models predicting that the gas must be moving away from the star. This clearly means that we still have a lot to know and understand.
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