A Distant Planet Seems To Have A Sulphur-rich Atmosphere, Hinting At Alien Volcanoes

Source: Found here

Headlines:

• "NASA Detects Massive Storm on Jupiter's Moon, Io" (Source: NASA)

• "Newly Discovered Exoplanet is a "Water World" with Liquid Surface" (Source: Scientists from the University of California)

• "Asteroid Redirect Mission to Study Space Rock up Close" (Source: NASA)

• "Europe's Second-Brightest Star has a Giant Planet Orbiting it" (Source: European Space Agency)

• "Scientists Find 4,000-Year-Old City in Egyptian Desert" (Source: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)

• " NASA's Parker Solar Probe Enters the Sun's Corona" (Source: NASA)

• "First Image of Black Hole Reveals Detailed Insights" (Source: Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope)

• "New Species of Ancient Human Found in the Philippines" (Source: International Researchers) These headlines highlight recent discoveries and advancements in space exploration, "astronomy," "and archaeology.".. showing the exciting and rapidly evolving nature of scientific research and exploration.

#news

Today, we know of more than 5,000 exoplanets : planets outside our solar system that orbit other stars. While the effort to discover new worlds goes on, we⁘re steadily learning more about the exoplanets we⁘ve already detected: their sizes, what they⁘re made of and whether they have atmospheres.

Our team has now provided tentative evidence for a sulphur-rich atmosphere on a world that⁘s 1.5 times the size of Earth and located 35 light years away. If confirmed, it would be the smallest known exoplanet with an atmosphere. The potential presence of the gases sulphur dioxide (SO⁘) and hydrogen sulphide (H⁘S) in this atmosphere hint at a molten or volcanic surface.

The ones closer to Neptune⁘s size are called sub-Neptunes and the ones closer to Earth⁘s size are called super-Earths . L 98-59 d is a super-Earth, slightly bigger and heavier than the Earth. The composition of the atmospheres of these planets is still an open question, one that we are only starting to explore with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched in 2021.

Every gas modifies the light in its own signature manner. From the light we receive from that star system, we can infer what the composition of that atmosphere might be. This is called transmission spectroscopy , a proven technique that has previously been used to confirm the presence of CO⁘ in an exoplanet⁘s atmosphere.