Vidulini
A team of astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) are located in Chile has managed to make the first direct recording of extrasolar planet atmospheres.
Markus Janson and his team used the ESO system of four large telescopes, the VLT - also known as giants with Paranala in Chile. Special instrument sensitive to the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (NACO) mounted on the VLT and the use of adaptive optics were crucial for this extraordinary success of astronomers.
Specifically, it is not the first extrasolar planet was detected where the atmosphere and its composition. This was done several times before, but then he was talking about extraction of spectral signatures of the planet during its transit across the disk from its parent star. Janson and his team have to perform for the time when the planet is in its orbit away from the star. It is known that a very small number of extrasolar planets is in an excellent plane for the transit and the previous way of detecting the atmosphere and its composition was limited to a small number of planets, and in a very short period of time suitable for this type of research. When a year in VLT install more sophisticated systems (SPHERE) astronomers will get a chance to discover new worlds and explore them in an atmosphere substantially lagodinjim conditions celestial mechanics.
Analysis of atmospheric planets of other stars gives us information about their physico-chemical properties, formation processes and possibly on the way out even if there is a biological and geological activity on them. Finally, we can even prove the existence of a technologically advanced civilization on them if they exist!
This outstanding success was done on the planet HR 8799 c (about ten times larger than our Jupiter is the surface temperature of 800 ° C). Its parent star HR 8799 is located 130 light years from Earth, diameter 50% larger than the Sun. Orbiting around it at least two giant planets. It is known that the presence of two "clouds" of small celestial objects for which we assume that pandami our asteroid belt.
Carolina Bergfors, a member of the team Janson says that it took five hours of exposure to get this result. "It's similar to a distance of two kilometers set a powerful searchlight pointed directly at you and you isolate the light of small candles, which is located right next to him," explains Bergfors. These results disagree with theoretical models, but further research to correct the theory or practice of astronomers to the study of extrasolar planets. What we do is a kind of "fingerprint", a combination of various research, theory and computer processing of results may seem bleak from the data obtained very precise answers to questions that are unanswered for decades.
This discovery was published in a recognized journal "Astrophysical Journal" called "spatially resolved spectroscopy of the Exoplanet HR 8799 c". The team participated Canadians M. Janson (University of Toronto) and D. Lafreniere (University of Montreal) and the Germans, C. Bergfors, M. Goto, W. Brandner (Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg).
Marino Tumpić
