NASA JPL scientists create alien atmospheres to better understand distant exoplanets. The Space Agency has described in detail a part of this project that uses a special "furnace" to heat a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, simulating very high temperatures on giant gas exoplanets. Using the simulated atmosphere, researchers can study environments and learn things about the planets.
Exoplanets – that is, planets outside our solar system – comprise a class of celestial bodies called "hot Jupiter." These are gas giants that orbit close to their parent star. This proximity results in very short orbits and very high temperatures, some of which reach or exceed 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
This exceptionally high temperature provides an atmosphere beyond what we can achieve in our own solar system, allowing scientists to use simulated models in their research. The team warns that they can not accurately simulate the atmospheres of these gas giants, but can come very close to a simple chemical mixture.
According to NASA, the JPL researchers initially used mostly hydrogen gas with a small amount of carbon monoxide. This mixture was heated to temperatures of up to 2240 degrees Fahrenheit and then exposed to a high dose of ultraviolet radiation. This helps to simulate the radiation a gas giant exoplanet would experience due to its close orbit with its parent star.
As part of their work, the team has already made some discoveries about these atmospheres, including the production of large quantities of carbon dioxide and water, as well as details of the opaque atmospheres of these planets. Co-author of the study and exoplanet scientist Mark Swain from JPL spoke about the findings.
These new results are immediately helpful in interpreting what we see in hot Jupiter atmospheres. We have assumed that the temperature in these atmospheres dominates the temperature, but this shows that we need to look at how radiation plays a role.