Found: A Neptune-sized planet with sulfur-rich clouds and a watery atmosphere
LA TimesScientists peering at a “warm Neptune” roughly 430 light-years away have discovered far less water in the gassy planet’s atmosphere than they expected — which puts it at odds with the ice giants in our own solar system. “This is providing insight into how planets could form and evolve different than our solar system,” said lead author Hannah Wakeford, an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. “And that really tells us about how unique or easy it is to form a solar system like our own.” When astronomers first began to find exoplanets around distant stars, they mostly found “hot Jupiters” — planets that were sometimes many times the size of our largest planet and sat very close to their host star. Astronomers were able to study HAT-P-26b’s atmosphere using four transits seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and two seen by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, with a technique known as transmission spectroscopy.
History of this topic
Many alien worlds could host more water — on the rocks — than scientist thought
The Independent
With each season lasting over 40 years, Neptune is cooler than we thought
India Today
New images reveal what the weather is like on Uranus and Neptune
The Independent
Nasa finds water in the atmosphere of a "warm Neptune" exoplanet 437 light years away
Firstpost
A portrait of our solar system
ABC
Water clouds discovered beyond the solar system for the FIRST time on a 'failed star'
Daily MailDiscover Related