A strange planet that's stymied astronomers for years has an 'unusually shiny atmosphere' and could be home to large amounts of water vapor, scientists said in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
. Planets such as GJ 1214b are often referred to as mini-Neptune planets because they're smaller than Neptune but with a similar atmospheric makeup. According to NASA, they are the most common type of planet in the galaxy, although none exist in our solar system.
While studying GJ 1214b, researchers tracked the planet through nearly its entire orbit over the course of about 40 hours, according to NASA. The planet's year takes only 1.6 Earth days. "The ability to get a full orbit was really critical to understand how the planet distributes heat from the day side to the night side," Kempton said in aThe night side is, unsurprisingly, colder than the day side, with temperatures shifting from 535 to 326 degrees Fahrenheit.
Those temperatures are actually cooler than expected. The cooler temperatures are caused by what NASA described as an"unusually shiny atmosphere." The atmosphere reflects a large proportion of the light from its parent star instead of absorbing it and becoming hotter. Webb tracked the full orbit of GJ 1214 b, allowing scientists to create a “heat map." This map showed a big change in temperature between the mini-Neptune’s day and night sides — only possible if its atmosphere is made of heavier molecules, such as water or methane.
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A reflective, metal-rich atmosphere for GJ 1214b from its JWST phase curve - NatureNature research paper: A reflective, metal-rich atmosphere for GJ 1214b from its JWST phase curve
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