NASA claims to have first discovered evidence of silica in the atmosphere of exoplanets

Xinhua News Agency, Los Angeles, October 16 (Reporter Tan Jingjing) - NASA released a statement on the 16th that researchers found evidence that the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the solar system is mainly composed of silica and extremely small quartz crystals through analysis of the observations of the James Webb Space Telescope. This is the first discovery of silica "traces" in the atmosphere of exoplanets, which helps to understand how clouds around exoplanets form and evolve

Xinhua News Agency, Los Angeles, October 16 (Reporter Tan Jingjing) - NASA released a statement on the 16th that researchers found evidence that the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the solar system is mainly composed of silica and extremely small quartz crystals through analysis of the observations of the James Webb Space Telescope. This is the first discovery of silica "traces" in the atmosphere of exoplanets, which helps to understand how clouds around exoplanets form and evolve.

According to NASA, this gas giant exoplanet, codenamed WASP-17b, is approximately 1300 light-years away from Earth and orbits the star WASP-17. WASP-17b has a volume more than 7 times that of Jupiter and a mass less than half that of Jupiter, making it one of the largest known exoplanets.

NASA stated that most of the rocky celestial bodies on Earth, the Moon, and the solar system are composed of silicates rich in silicon and oxygen, which is also extremely common in the Milky Way. The silicate composition previously observed in the atmospheres of exoplanets and brown dwarfs may be composed of magnesium rich silicates, such as olivine and pyroxene. This is the first evidence of the presence of silica in the atmosphere of exoplanets.

A research team composed of American and British researchers made this new discovery using the mid infrared instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope. The research findings were published in the American Journal of Astrophysics Communications on the 16th.

David Grant, a researcher at the University of Bristol in the UK and the first author of the paper, stated that previously, it was known from Hubble observations that there were aerosols in the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-17b, which are small particles that make up clouds or fog. However, he did not expect to find evidence that the aerosols were composed of quartz crystals. This new discovery is exciting.

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