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posted by martyb on Saturday July 06 2019, @10:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the the-best-laid-theories-o'-science's-minions,-gang-aft-agliese dept.

Using both the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes, scientists have, for the first time, determined the spectroscopic signature of a planet orbiting another star.

scientists successfully measured changes in the spectral signature of the host star's light as the planet passed across. By observing which wavelengths were absorbed as the planet made its transits, scientists confirmed the dominance of hydrogen and helium in the exoplanet's atmosphere.

The planet did not meet expectations. The atmosphere of the exoplanet Gliese 3470 b, which is considered a mini-Neptune at ~12.6 Earth masses, was anticipated to be rich in heavier elements such as oxygen and carbon forming water vapor and methane gas similar to Neptune. Instead, according to Björn Benneke, a researcher at the University of Montreal in Canada,

we found an atmosphere that is so poor in heavy elements that its composition resembles the hydrogen/helium-rich composition of the sun.

Researchers theorize that Gliese 3470 b formed close to its star rather than forming further out and migrating inward and gathered hydrogen from the protoplanetary disk before it dispersed.


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