Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers were able to obtain detailed spectra of two young exoplanets. Silicate clouds were found in the atmosphere of one of them.
The target of the study was the newborn star YSES-1, located 310 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Musca. It is only 16.7 million years old. It attracts scientists because it has two exoplanets detected by direct imaging. These are gas giants whose orbits are significantly distant from their stars, and whose atmospheres are still heated to high temperatures. Thanks to this, they emit a large amount of infrared radiation, which allows them to be photographed directly.
All this made YSES-1 a very attractive target for JWST. The priority of the observations was to study the atmospheres of the star’s exoplanets in order to better understand their structure. Analysis of the spectrum of the more distant body revealed characteristic signs of the presence of clouds, mainly consisting of sand particles (silicates). It is believed that their existence is linked to the relative youth of the planet. Younger planets have a slightly larger radius, and this expanded atmosphere allows clouds to absorb more of the heat emitted by the planet.
The inner planet, YSES-1b, presented another surprise. Although the entire system is still very young, it is already old enough that there are no remnants of the protoplanetary disk left in it. However, JWST managed to find a disk around the gas giant. It is believed that it feeds the planet with material and serves as the birthplace of moons similar to those surrounding Jupiter and Saturn.
It is worth noting that this is only the third planetary disk known to scientists to date. Moreover, both of the other objects are located near objects that are significantly younger than YSES-1b, raising new questions about how this disk has managed to survive for so long.
According to scientists, studying YSES-1 provides an opportunity to observe the formation of a planet similar to Jupiter in real time. Knowing how long it takes and what its final chemical composition is, we can gain important clues about what the building blocks of our Solar System looked like.
Earlier, we reported on how James Webb helped uncover the mystery of the origin of an ultra-hot planet.
According to Phys.org
