Re-examination of gas giant WASP-76b in an alien star system 634 light-years from us has revealed signs of “cannibalism” – possible absorption by one world of another. Hot Jupiter WASP-76b has long been known to scientists. It is so close to its star that its atmosphere heats up to 2000 °C. This raises so many different elements into the “air” that this planet has become the source of many surprising discoveries.

The exoplanet WASP-76b passes through the disk of its star every 1.8 days. Each time the star pierces the atmosphere of the exoplanet, which swells due to such warming, it is an invaluable resource for spectral analysis of the composition of the gas giant’s atmosphere. A new study of absorption lines in the spectrum has made it possible to distinguish between at least 11 individual elements, some of which indicate the planet’s tendency to self-destruct.

In particular, for the first time in the history of exoplanet observations, vanadium oxide has been detected with high confidence in the atmosphere of WASP-76b.

“This molecule is of great interest to astronomers because it can greatly influence the structure of the atmospheres of hot giant planets. – explained the researchers. “This molecule plays a similar role to ozone by heating the upper layers of the atmosphere extremely efficiently.”

In addition to the glands and vanadium mentioned earlier, sodium, calcium, chromium, lithium, hydrogen, magnesium, nitrogen, manganese, potassium and barium were found in the outer planet’s atmosphere. In contrast, traces of high melting point titanium and aluminum were not detected in WASP-76b’s atmosphere.

An interesting moment was the discovery of elements determined in the parent star in the atmosphere of WASP-76b and the modest presence of elements that are frequently and extensively found on rocky planets such as Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury. All together, it could be a clue to the formation stages of giant planets. Unlike rocky planets, which grow from below and deposit matter around the core like a snowball rolling down a mountain, gas giants can be born by processes from above, such as stars whose matter is gradually compressed under the influence of gravity.

But the most interesting thing is that in the atmosphere of WASP-76b there are elements that, according to all laws, should not appear there.

“This is the first study to measure the content of chemical elements such as nickel, magnesium and chromium with high precision on a giant planet.” Mohamad Ali-Deeb, an astrophysicist from the United Arab Emirates. “The deviation of their values ​​from expected led us to suggest that WASP-76b may have swallowed another much smaller planet with the same chemical composition as Mercury.”

Generations of researchers have used measurements of the amount of hydrogen and helium in Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune to test theories of the formation of gas planets.scientists remind “Similarly, measurements of heavier elements such as calcium and magnesium in WASP-76b will help to better understand the formation of gaseous planets.” Source