Reveal the mystery of the lack of water on exoplanets – La Cronica de Hoy

The apparent lack of water on the surface of some exoplanets hot Jupiters could be explained by the presence of clouds in its atmosphere that hide the liquid, according to a study published in the British journal Nature yesterday.
 An international team of scientists has analyzed the images taken by the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes 10 hot Jupiter exoplanets, making this the largest study conducted to date to solve one of the great mysteries that encloses the space.

 These exoplanets are similar in size to Jupiter, but it orbits its star is much more closed and therefore atmospheres have high temperatures, which greatly hinders their study.
 Previous research showed that the spectrum of some hot Jupiter, by the emission or absorption of light is measured by the atoms in the gas at certain frequencies is characterized by the presence of “weak absorption lines of water.”

 The apparent lack of water on its surface may be related, according to these studies, with the formation of the exoplanet.
 By contrast, the new information from the Hubble images and Spitzer points to a much simpler theory, says in a statement one of its leaders, David Sing of the University of Exeter (UK).
 “At last we have seen this large group of planets together, because this is the first time we have a length sufficient to compare multiple characteristics between a planet and another wave. We discovered that these planetary atmospheres are much more diverse than we thought, “
Sing he said.
 “I’m very excited to finally ‘see’ this large group of planets together, and finally we had enough coverage of wavelengths to compare various features from one planet to another,” says Sing.
 His models find that exoplanets with open atmospheres present strong signs of the presence of water, while the hot jupiter with little presence of clouds and mists containing liquid.
 “The alternative to this is that planets form in the context of deprivation of water, which would force us to completely rethink our current theories of how planets are formed,” said another co-author of the study Jonathan Fortney of the University of California (United States).
 “Our results have ruled he added dry stage and strongly suggest that cloud is just hiding the water comes from prying eyes.”
 All planets have a favorable orbit that left between its parent star and Earth. As the exoplanet passes in front of its star as seen from Earth, part of the starlight travels through the outer atmosphere of the planet. “The atmosphere leaves its unique fingerprint in the starlight, we can study when light comes to us,” explains Hannah Wakeford, now at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
 The study of exoplanetary atmospheres is currently in its infancy, with only a handful of observations taken. Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, will open a new window in infrared study of exoplanets and their atmospheres.
                                                                                         

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