2023-05-01 15:30:54
This exoplanet, hotter than some stars, continues to fascinate scientists. If we already knew that its atmosphere contained iron and titanium, a new study reports the presence of another heavy metal, rather rare on Earth: terbium.
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[EN VIDÉO] Exoplanets What are exoplanets, where are they found and why are they so interesting? Video answer…
4,000°C on the surface… Suffice to say that it is rather hot on Kelt-9 b. This exoplanet, which is about 670 light years from Earth, is also the hottest discovery to date in our Galaxy. The amazing features of this planet don’t end there. Three times more massive than Jupiter, it orbits around its star Kelt-9 at a distance 30 times less than the Earth/Sun distance. These dantesque conditions mean that it has a unique atmosphere, which has fascinated scientists for several years.
The incredible temperature that reigns on this exoplanet discovered in 2016 makes it impossible for metals to exist in the form of alloys. They are present only in their atomic form and come to compose the atmosphere of this overheated planet. This is the first time that iron and titanium have been observed in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. But that would not be all. Thanks to a new method of analysis, astrophysicists were able to detail a little more finely the composition of the strange atmosphere of Kelt-9 b. Among the 7 elements detected, they thus discovered the presence of a rare metal on Earth: terbium (Tb).
A heavy element which should make it possible to know more about the evolution of this planet
From the lanthanide family, terbium belongs to the group of rare earths. It is a gray and soft metal, discovered in a Swedish mine in 1843. Detecting its presence in the atmosphere of an exoplanet is rather surprising, because this element has a rather high atomic weight. But its detection could help in particular to better determine the age of this exoplanet and to understand how it was formed. This discovery further expands the range of possible compositions of planetary atmospheres.
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