What can the atmosphere of a free-floating exoplanet teach astronomers about exoplanet formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as an international team of scientists investigated the exoplanet SIMP J013656.5+093347.3, aka SIMP 0136, regarding the physical and atmospheric characteristics of this free-floating exoplanet, as SIMP 0136 isn’t orbiting a star and is traversing the cosmos independently. This study has the potential to help astronomers better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanets, specifically those that are traveling freely throughout the universe.
For the study, astronomers used NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to analyze SIMP 0136, which is located approximately 20 light-years from Earth, is approximately 13 times Jupiter’s mass, and rotates in only 2.4 hours. The team specifically focused on the exoplanet’s unknown atmospheric and physical characteristics like its temperature changes and aurora.
These observations were complemented with atmospheric models to better understand the SIMP 0136’s atmosphere and physical characteristics. In the end, the researchers found that SIMP 0136 possesses three specific characteristics: carbon chemistry variations, hot spots, and clouds.
“We haven’t really figured out the chemistry part of the puzzle yet,” said Dr. Johanna Vos, who is an associate professor at Trinity College Dublin and a co-author on the study. “But these results are really exciting because they are showing us that the abundances of molecules like methane and carbon dioxide could change from place to place and over time. If we are looking at an exoplanet and can get only one measurement, we need to consider that it might not be representative of the entire planet.”
Finding these planetary features is intriguing since gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn also exhibit similar features but knowing that SIMP 0136 doesn’t orbit a star makes these findings even more exciting.
How will SIMP 0136 teach astronomers about free-floating exoplanets in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Wikipedia, Space Telescope Science Institute
Featured Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
