Using the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO), astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) studied the atmosphere of MASCARA-4b, a distant exoplanet of “super-hot Jupiter.” Research published April 11 on the preprint server arXivled to the first detection of rubidium and samarium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet.

Located about 556 light-years from Earth, MASCARA-4b is a gas giant with an equilibrium temperature of 2250 K orbiting a bright type A star. It has a Jupiter radius of about 1.51 and a Jupiter mass of 1.67, giving it a density. at the level of 0.48 g/cm³. The planet orbits its host at a distance of 0.047 AU every 2.82 days. Due to its high atmospheric scale height and transmission spectroscopy metric (TSM), MASCARA-4b is an excellent target for atmospheric characterization.

Therefore, a team of astronomers led by Zewen Jiang of the CAS Laboratory of Basic Optical Astronomy in Beijing, China, decided to observe MASCARA-4b with ESPRESSO, a fiber-fed ultra-stable high-resolution spectrograph mounted on the Very Large Telescope (VLT). gave. At the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Cerro Paranal, Chile.

“Two transitions of MASCARA-4 b were observed on 13 February 2020 and 1 March 2020 by ESPRESSO under ESO programs 0104.C-0605 (PI: WYTTENBACH)…. In this letter, we provide an overview of atoms. “Ions/ions in the atmosphere of MASCARA-4b using data from two VLT/ESPRESSO transition data,” the researchers write.

Observations have revealed several heavy forms in MASCARA-4b’s atmosphere, including rubidium (Rb), samarium (Sm), as well as titanium ions (Ti+).^And barium (Ba⁺). This is the first time Rb and Sm have been detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, while Ti⁺ plague⁺ has been reported on several other extrasolar planets.

Given that the new observations point to Ba for the third time⁺ Located in the atmosphere of the extremely hot exoplanet Jupiter (UHJ), Jiang’s team suspects that this element may be commonly found in the UHJ population. The researchers added that Ba’s identity has been identified.⁺ He suggests that at high altitudes in UHJ, such planets may experience atmospheric dynamics that we currently do not expect.

It was stated that Sm, with atomic number 62, is the heaviest element found in the atmosphere of an alien world. It is also the first element of the lanthanide series discovered in exoplanets. In addition to the new findings, the study also confirmed previous detections of magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), chromium (Cr), and iron (Fe) in the atmosphere of MASCARA-4b. The authors of the paper request further atmospheric studies of exoplanets to find other rare elements.

“More accurate HRS should be done [спектроскопічні дослідження високої роздільної здатності] “The researchers are at UHJ to reveal the existence of additional species and even some relatively common small isotopes.”