This planet is shaped like a lemon. That may be the least strange thing about it.
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a strange-looking exoplanet that defies explanation
Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/CSA/Ralf Crawford/STScI
Astronomers have discovered a strange lemon-shaped exoplanet orbiting a dense, rapidly spinning dead star. But those details are perhaps the least strange thing about the matter.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers discovered that the planet’s atmosphere is enriched in carbon, but lacking in nitrogen and oxygen. This is important because “everywhere in the universe, where there is carbon, there tends to be nitrogen and oxygen,” says Michael Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago and co-author of a study. pre-printed paper detailing the findings that will be published in the Letters from astrophysical journals.
Dubbed PSR J2322-2650b, the Jupiter-mass gas giant planet orbits a species of small, dense star known as a pulsar, which emits jets of electromagnetic radiation from its poles at regular intervals, much like a lighthouse emits light. When Zhang and his colleagues looked at the so-called emission spectrum of the planet’s atmosphere, they found wavelengths that corresponded to molecular carbon, which they believe could also be in the planet’s core in the form of diamonds.
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Because PSR J2322-2650b is large enough and close enough to its host pulsar, the star’s gravity is pulling the planet toward the shape of a lemon. Astronomers know of other gas giant exoplanets orbiting ordinary stars that are distorted, but to a much lesser degree, Zhang says.
The biggest mystery, however, is how this planet formed, given its strange atmosphere. “It’s really difficult to explain by conventional means,” says Zhang. One explanation is that the planet is the stripped remains of an ancient star, but that doesn’t solve the mystery of the missing oxygen and nitrogen, he says.
“I’m open to the possibility that this is a completely new type of object,” says Zhang.
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