The Subaru Telescope found evidence, which suggests that the super-Earth planet GJ 1214 b may have a water-rich atmosphere.
A team of Japanese astronomers used Subaru Telescope's two optical cameras, Suprime-Cam and the Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph along with a blue transmission filter to observe planetary transits of super-Earth GJ 1214 b. During their observation, they discovered that the super-Earth may have a water-rich atmosphere.
Super-Earths are a new type of exoplanets. They have a radius and mass that is larger than that of Earth's but less than the bigger planets in our Solar system. Researchers are yet to determine whether these exoplanets have characteristics more like those of the Earth or like small Uranuses.
To understand these super-Earths, researchers have been studying GJ 1214 b for a while now, which is located about 40 light years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus. One of the most well-known super-Earths, it was first discovered in 2009. This recent finding could shed more light on the properties of super-Earths.
For the latest findings, researchers studied features of light scattered during the super-Earth's transit around its star. Studying this transit allows researchers to investigate changes in the wavelength in the brightness of the star, which in turn helps them better understand the exoplanet's atmospheric composition.
Strong Rayleigh scattering in the optical wavelength gives strong evidence of a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. However, researchers did not see strong Rayleigh scattering in this study, implying that the planet has a water-rich atmosphere with extensive clouds. The findings didn't completely discount the possibility that the planet has a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. Yet new research seems to point more strongly toward a water-rich one. Currently, the scientists plan to conduct follow-up observations in order to reinforce the idea that the planet does indeed have water rather than hydrogen.
The new study is published in The Astrophysical Journal.
