Nov 09, 2020 06:00:00

A hellish star 'K2-141b' where rock rain falls on the lava sea

A study that an

exoplanet located about 202 light-years away from the earth is a star in a hellish environment where 'a wind of 5000 km / h blows rust and rocks fall into a sea of lava at a depth of 100 km'. The results have been announced.

Modeling the atmosphere of lava planet K2-141b: implications for low- and high-resolution spectroscopy | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | Oxford Academic
https://academic.oup.com/mnras

Supersonic winds, rocky rains forecasted on lava planet --McGill University
https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/

The research team at McGill University , the University of York, and the Institute for Science Education in India simulated the planetary environment with the extrasolar planet K2-141b discovered in 2018. K2-141b is a planet that revolves around a star about 202 light-years from the earth in about 0.3 days, with a radius of about 1.5 times that of the earth and a mass of about 5 times that of the earth.

The research team analyzed the sunshine pattern of K2-141b, and found that the earth repeats day and night every 12 hours, while K2-141b has about two-thirds of the earth's surface always in the daytime. I understand. It was also found that the temperature in the daytime was 3000 degrees and the temperature at night was -200 degrees, which is an extreme environment.

At a temperature of 3000 degrees, rocks containing sodium, silicon monoxide, and silicon dioxide are melted into muddy, so it is thought that the sea of lava is spreading in K2-141. Also, just as there is a cycle of 'water evaporates and condenses and rains' on the earth, on K2-141b 'rocks evaporate due to a high temperature of 3000 degrees and are transported to the night part by a wind of 5000 km / h' The research team says that there is a cycle of 'evaporating, condensing and raining.'

However, the K2-141b cycle is not as stable as the water cycle on Earth. Repeated dissolution and condensation will change the mineral composition of K2-141b, and eventually the planet's surface and atmosphere will change completely, the researchers predict.

Nicholas Cowan, one of the research teams, said, 'The atmosphere of K2-141b may spread beyond the sea of lava, making it easier to find with a telescope even though it is a planet.' 'All rocky planets including the earth At first, it was a world of lava seas, but then it cooled rapidly and solidified. Lava planets like K2-141b are rare ones that show the evolution of the planet. ' ..

The research team has stated that they would like to observe K2-141b in more detail using the James Webb Space Telescope , which is scheduled to be launched in October 2021.