New Hubble Reveals Diversity of Exoplanet -Atmospheres

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope to learn the atmospheres of ten hot, Jupiter-sized exoplanets in detail, the main number of such planets ever studied. The team was able to discover why some of these worlds seem to have less water than predictable — a long-standing mystery.

To date, astronomers have exposed nearly 2000 planets orbiting other stars. A number of of these planets are recognized as hot Jupiters — hot, gaseous planets with individuality similar to those of Jupiter. They orbit very close to their stars, making their outside hot, and the planets tricky to study in detail with-out being overwhelmed by bright starlight. The hottest planets within the example are portrayed with a glowing night side. This result is strongest on WASP-12b, the hottest exoplanet in the example, but also visible on WASP-19b and WASP-17b. It is also known that several of the planets exhibit physically powerful Rayleigh scattering. This effect causes the blue hue of the daytime sky and the reddening of the Sun at sunset on Earth. It is also visible as a blue edge on the planets WASP-6b, HD 189733b, HAT-P-12b, and HD 209458b.

Now, an international side of astronomers has tackled the problem by making the main ever study of hot Jupiters, exploring and compare ten such planets in a bid to understand their- atmospheres.

Only three of these planetary atmospheres had before been studied in detail; this new example forms the main ever spectroscopic catalogue of explanted- atmospheres.