Astronomers discover high-altitude clouds darkening skies in the YSES-1 system
Astronomers observe thick slab clouds in the YSES-1 system, darkening the planet's skies. These clouds are primarily mineral dust, probably containing iron. When the clouds break, iron could rain down. Experts are studying this strange phenomenon to understand the composition and atmosphere. The discovery sheds light on the complex weather patterns in distant worlds, offering insights into the formation and behavior of
exoplanetary atmospheres
. Further study could reveal more about the planet's potential habitability and the role of mineral clouds in shaping its climate and surface conditions.
The young planet YSES-1 gets covered by clouds
According to The Guardian, the star YSES-1 is a newbie by cosmic standards, just 1 million years old, compared with the 4.6-billion-year-old Sun. The star is circled by two gas giants, both still forming and larger than Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system.
As the astronomers studied the young star system, which lies 307 light-years away in the deep southern sky, they spotted the formation of
high-altitude clouds
around the planet. They were surprised to find both planets in the telescope's field of view, giving them information on two worlds.
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The outer planet, YSES-1c, is the smaller of the two worlds and about six times the mass of Jupiter. The telescope revealed high-altitude clouds consisting of magnesium silicate dust grains and some iron in the planet's atmosphere. The astronomers described the observations as the first direct detection of such clouds on a planet circling a Sun-like star. The data revealed a disc of material made up of trillions of tonnes of dust particles around the larger inner world, YSES-1b, about 14 times the mass of Jupiter.
Researchers' view on the discovery of the young planet
Dr.
Kielan Hoch
, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, said, 'There's a small handful of multiplanet systems that have been directly imaged, and they are a unique laboratory to test
planet formation theories
as they formed in the same environment.'
She added, 'Both planets are still forming, which is why they are still bright enough for us to detect. The light we are seeing is from their formation as they begin to shrink and condense.'
An added mystery is why a 16-million-year-old planet still has a disk of material swirling around it. Astronomers' theories of planet formation suggest that any encircling dust should have settled after the first 5 million years.
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