距地球800光年、有黃色天空的“怪異”系外行星

距地球800光年、有黃色天空的“怪異”系外行星

Researchers have found the “weird” exoplanet WASP-79b, nearly 800 light-years from Earth, does not have a blue sky as our planet does. Instead, its skies are yellow.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，距離地球近800光年的“怪異”系外行星WASP-79b，并不像我們的地球那樣擁有藍天。相反，它的天空是黃色的。

According to a statement from NASA, WASP-79b orbits its host star once every 3.7 Earth days and is not in the habitable zone, the proximity of which a planet is to a star where it could support liquid water.

根據(jù)美國國家航空航天局(NASA)的一份聲明，WASP-79b每3.7個地球日繞其母恒星運行一周，不屬于宜居帶。宜居帶是指一顆恒星周圍的一定距離范圍，在這一范圍內水可以以液態(tài)形式存在。

The exoplanet, known as a “hot Jupiter,” also does not have any evidence of Rayleigh scattering, which is what causes Earth’s skies to appear blue by “scattering the shorter (bluer) wavelengths of sunlight,” the agency noted. That’s left experts puzzled.

該機構指出，這顆被稱為“熾熱木星”的系外行星也沒有任何瑞利散射的證據(jù)，瑞利散射是導致地球天空呈現(xiàn)藍色的原因，因為它“散射了更短(更藍)的太陽光”，這讓專家們感到困惑。

“This is a strong indication of an unknown atmospheric process that we’re just not accounting for in our physical models,” said researcher Kristin Showalter Sotzen of the Johns Hopkins University in a statement. “I’ve shown the WASP-79b spectrum to a number of colleagues and their consensus is ‘that’s weird.'”

約翰霍普金斯大學的研究人員Kristin Showalter Sotzen在一份聲明中說:“這是一個強有力的證據(jù)，表明存在一個我們在物理模型中沒有考慮到的未知的大氣過程。”“我向一些同事展示了WASP-79b的光譜，他們一致認為‘這很奇怪’。”

In addition to having a yellow sky, WASP-79b is exceptionally hot, with an average temperature of approximately 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, making it one of the largest exoplanets ever observed.

除了擁有黃色的天空，WASP-79b還異常炎熱，平均溫度約3000華氏度，使它成為有史以來最大的太陽系外行星之一。

“WASP-79b is twice the mass of Jupiter and is so hot it has an extended atmosphere, which is ideal for studying starlight that is filtered through and grazes the atmosphere on its way toward Earth,” NASA added.

美國航天局還說：“WASP-79b的質量是木星的兩倍，它非常炎熱，有一個擴展的大氣層，這是研究恒星光線的理想地點，恒星光線通過大氣層，掠過大氣層，最終到達地球。”

The exoplanet is 780 light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. A light-year, which measures distance in space, equals 6 trillion miles.

這顆系外行星距離地球780光年，位于Eridanus星座。光年的測量空間距離的單位，一光年相當于6萬億英里。

WASP-79b may also have “scattered clouds and iron lifted to high altitudes could precipitate as rain,” the agency explained.

該機構解釋說，WASP-79b也可能有“散落的云層，高海拔地區(qū)的鐵可能會隨著降雨而沉淀”。

Sotzen added that the researchers are not really sure what’s causing the phenomena, as it’s the first time they’ve seen this.

索岑補充說，由于這是他們第一次看到這種現(xiàn)象，研究人員還不確定是什么導致了這種現(xiàn)象。

The findings were published in the Astronomical Journal.

這些發(fā)現(xiàn)發(fā)表在《天文雜志》上。