Space Telescope (JWST), researchers identified these clouds, which are primarily composed of sand-like particles. This finding marks the most robust silicate absorption feature recorded in an exoplanet to date. Such observations provide critical insights into not only the composition but also the thermal dynamics and formation processes that govern these distant worlds.
The thick slabs of cloud that blot the planet’s skies are mostly made from mineral dust, but astronomers suspect there may be iron in them, too, which would rain down on the world below when the clouds break.
Webb space telescope (JWST) on the young star system, which lies 307 light years away in the deep southern sky.
YSES-1, is a newbie by cosmic standards, a mere 1m years old compared with the 4.6bn-year-old sun. The star is circled by two gas giants, both still forming and both larger than Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system.
Nasedkin added: "Directly imaged exoplanets—planets outside our own solar system—are the only exoplanets that we can truly take photos of.
"These exoplanets are typically still young enough that they are still hot from their formation—and it is this warmth, seen in the thermal infrared, that we as astronomers observe."
By recording the light coming from the two exoplanets, the team were able to unpick the signals that reveal the chemical makeup of the gas giant's atmospheres.
Astronomers had seen the system before using ground-based telescopes, but JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI, provided a much clearer look. The telescope allowed researchers to directly detect dusty silicate clouds in the atmosphere of the outer planet, YSES-1 c.
The clouds are made of tiny particles less than one micrometer across. According to researchers, the clouds likely include iron and sit higher in the atmosphere than expected, possibly due to the planet’s young age and low gravity.
Dr. Kielan Hoch, Giacconi Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said, "This program was proposed before the launch of JWST. It was unique, as we hypothesized that the NIRSpec instrument on the future telescope should be able to observe both planets in its field of view in a single exposure, essentially, giving us two for the price of one. Our simulations ended up being correct post-launch, providing the most detailed dataset of a multi-planet system to-date.
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