Ethereal Glory Lights Found: Rainbow-Like Patterns Spotted on WASP-76b 'Hot Jupiter' Exoplanet

Astronomers were able to pick up signs of an odd and rainbow-like pattern over the surface of the "hot Jupiter" WASP-76b exoplanet.

WASP-76b: a 'Hot Jupiter' Exoplanet

The WASP-76b's surface is very hot. Even the side that does not face the Sun can soar to temperatures of 2,400 degrees Celsius. The surface is extremely hot to the point where molten iron falls from the sky each day.

The odd exoplanet's mass is also lesser than Jupiter's. However, its size is nearly double. This is due to how it orbits its host star at a distance that is twelve times closer compared to when Mercury rotates the Sun. Extreme radiation effectively puffs it like popcorn kernels.

ALSO READ: NASA Discovered "Hot Jupiter" Exoplanet, Bigger But Less Massive Than Solar System's Largest Planet

Rainbow-Like Patterns Spotted

Now, astronomers were able to detect some rainbow-like patterns over the fiery surface of WASP-76b. If this is confirmed, the circular glory lights would serve as the first of their kind found beyond the solar system, with its only other sighting being on Venus. Their form is that of concentric rings of colorful light that can only form under certain circumstances. Though they may have the appearance of rainbows, there's a slightly different phenomenon that causes them.

Rainbows typically appear due to the refraction of visible wavelengths of light as they move through lower-density air and denser water droplets. On the other hand, glory lights result from diffraction, or light that passes through an opening that is narrow.

Thomas Wilson, an astronomer from the University of Warwick and a co-author of the study that documents the sighting, explains that such colorful and concentric rings of an exosolar body have never been seen in the past.

Hence, if this is confirmed, the first exoplanetary glory would make the hot Jupiter an extremely unique planet. It will also offer a great tool for understanding the atmospheres and habitability of distance exoplanets.

The light changes were observed by the team of Wilson as the exoplanet moved in front of its star across three years. The astronomers were shocked by the amount of light that emanated from the area where day and night meet.

Olivier Demangeon, the study's lead author and a researcher from the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal, notes that this marks the first time that such a stark change was picked up in an exoplanet's brightness. The discovery enables them to hypothesize that the odd glow could result from a directionally dependent, strong, and localized reflection, which is the glory effect.

To verify that such a glory effect is indeed present on a far exoplanet, the astronomers suggest further research using the James Webb Space Telescope in order to take a deeper look into the exoplanet's surface. Confirmation would mean that the atmosphere of the exoplanet's temperature could be stable as time passes.