The search for extra-terrestrial life or SETI is an organisation devoted to find evidences of life
on other planets. To do so scientists study other planets or sometimes called exoplanets. Exoplanets
are hard to detect but we have discovered quite a few of them in the recent years. The discovery
of exoplanets has intensified interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. There is
special interest in planets that orbit in a star's habitable zone, where it is possible for liquid
water, a prerequisite for life on Earth, to exist on the surface. Observing exoplanets allows us to
determine whether or not we actually understand those processes, even in our own solar system.The
more we learn about all planets, the better we can understand our own: its geologic past, the
behaviour of its atmosphere, and future climatic trends. IN the process to do so scientists have
sometimes discovered very strange and intriguing planets that amaze us. Today we are going to talk
about two such planets that seem to defy the laws of physics and even change our perspective
of planets by telling us something new. These are Gliese 436b and Tres-2b. So just sit back
and watch the complete video to know about these very strange planets that defy laws of physics.
Space is full of wonders whose discoveries have always left us wondering. It never
fails to bring out the exceptionally weird yet amazing discovery to our knowledge.
In all these explorations and discoveries the vivid interest of astronomers
led to the discovery of a weird yet astonishing exoplanet
which is approximately 31.8 light-years away and is called GLIESE436b otherwise known as GJ436b.
It is a Neptune-sized exoplanet towards the constellation Leo, discovered in August 2004
by R Paul Buttler and Geoffrey Marcy. Transit observations led to the determination of its
exact mass and radius, both of which are very similar to that of Neptune,
making Gliese 436b the smallest known transiting extra solar planet. They used a method called
the Radial Velocity Method which locates an extraterrestrial body by observing how its
gravitational pull makes the parent star appear to shift and bend. Even though the planet is huge,
it is too compact and is considered as warm-Neptune as it's similar in size but
closer to its star than Neptune is to the Sun. This planet resides very close to gliese436,
just about 4 million kilometres away and is at least 6 billion years old which the astronomers
do not guarantee. They may or may not be older than this. Lately, the astronomers and scientists
have discovered some weird and wild stuffs which is why it won't be surprising or shocking to know
in the near future that there's a planet where the rain drops are of diamonds or some other
amusing facts such as the day is brighter than the sun and nights are darker than the coal.
Nevertheless, one such amazing fact about this planet is that this planet consists of a ginormous
layer of water which is in its solid form. To put it in simple words, we can say that it is
made of excruciatingly hot ice. The kind of ice which is hotter than the fire itself. However,
the ice on the surface of Gliese436b is not normal ice like we have on Earth. The temperature on this
planet is almost up to 440 °C which is equal to the temperature of normal fire comparatively.
Under this temperature, it is impossible for water to turn into ice or freeze. But this is
where our knowledge takes a sleek twist, as far as we know, any liquid takes the shape of an ice when
the molecules within that liquid come together to form a strong bond and molecules come together
only when the temperature is less else forcefully by implementing pressure and bringing them close.
The same happens on this planet too. On Gliese 436 B hydrogen, carbon monoxide, helium and methane
are found in abundance. The atmospheric pressure on this planet is so much that oxygen breaks from
carbon monoxide and gets separated then combines with 2 hydrogen atoms and forms H2O molecules
which in simple words is termed as WATER which is found in abundance on our planet Earth. The high
atmospheric pressure in temperature compresses the h2o molecules because of which even a planet
with 440 °C is not only capable enough to form ice but remain in the same state. Its extreme gravity
prevents the ice from turning back into liquid form because of which the ice present on GLIESE43b
is unlike other ice and remains the same even during super hot temperature of 439 degrees.
Recently in 2015, according to a research it has been discovered that the radiation of the stars
has created a layer of cloud like structure on the perimeter of the planet
which looks like a tail of the cloud. It is predicted that clouds could be
made out of potassium chloride or zinc sulfide at the scorching temperatures
of several hundred degrees Fahrenheit and soon to be found in these atmospheres.
Also, this planet is about 10-20 times the size of Earth and completes one full orbit
around its parent star in just a little over 2 days which proves the fact that the planet is
located remarkably close to its star. Due to such proximity it is said that it will
only take a few nanoseconds to put something on fire around the planet. Later in the late
December in the year 2013, NASA reported that clouds have been detected in the atmosphere
which is very spectacular. It's as if the planet's atmosphere
at a high temperature caused the hydrogen to evaporate the radiation of the star
and was too weak to blow away the cloud that accumulated around the planet. Since the cloud
forms a comet-like tail because of UV light coming from the star pushing on the hydrogen and causing
it to spiral outwards. Because the atmosphere of our planet blocks most UV light, the team needed a
space telescope with Hubble’s UV capability and exquisite precision to find the Gliese 436b’s
comet-like tail. The astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to detect this hydrogen cloud's
shadow. This observation could not have been made from Earth because our atmosphere blocks most of
the UV light. This phenomenon also explained the disappearance of hydrogen from Earth's atmosphere.
The astronomers suggested that evaporation such as this may also have happened in the earlier
history of the Solar System when the Earth had a hydrogen-rich atmosphere that dissipated.
It's also possible that it could happen to Earth's atmosphere in the future
when the Sun swells up to become a red giant and boils off our remaining atmosphere before
engulfing our planet completely which is why the astronomers are determined to find a planet
suitable for lives to exist on it thus keeping the existence of living things and beings in motion.
Let us now shed some light on a very dark and rare discovery by our astronomers. Tres-2b is an extra
solar planet which is also known as the darkest planet is orbiting around its planet star i.e.
GSC 03549-02811 and is 750 light years away in the direction towards the constellation Draco.
The giant size and mass of this planet shows great similarities to that of Jupiter and is referred as
hot Jupiter, where the temperature ranges between 1,000-1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The reason behind
being hotter than lava is the proximity between the planet and its parent star. Because of being
so close to the star this planet takes only 59 hours i.e 2.37 days to complete a round around its
orbit. TrES-2b was discovered on August 21, 2006, by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES)
by detecting the transit of the planet across its parent star using Sleuth and PSS. This discovery
was later confirmed by the W. M. Keck Observatory on September 8, 2006, by measuring the radial
velocity of the star. Since then the research is alive and every time there comes a distinct news
and discoveries like never before. The researchers found out its ability to reflect light less than
even 1% because of which it appears darker than coal. It is darker than the darkest thing you
would have ever come across. Darker than the dark house, it's almost like a black hole except of
course it isn't. However, it is not that dark as because of its high temperature it emits a
faint red glow very much like a burning iron metal which may or may not make it a little less dark.
There is no clear theory as to why the planet is so dark but one such reason was the absence of
reflective cloud like on Jupiter making it so bright. The second predicted reason was
the presence of light absorbing chemicals in the atmosphere of TrES-2b such as vaporized sodium,
potassium or titanium oxide. Even though TrES-2b is called hot Jupiter it has some of its own
distinct properties making itself a little less like Jupiter and having its own identity.
In March 2009, NASA launched Kepler and was named as Kepler mission for the discovery of
extra solar planet by the transit method. Kepler uses light sensors called photometers that
ceaselessly monitor dimming of a thousand of stars. Such dips in stellar brightness may
show that a planet is transiting, or passing in front of a star, relative to Earth,
blocking some of the star's light. And in the case of the coal-black planet, blocking astonishingly
only little of that light. When a planet passes in front of its star, the shaded side of the planet
faces Kepler. But as the planet begins orbiting to the side of its star or behind its star, its
star-facing side comes to face the viewer star. One month later the spacecraft released its first
images and it was discovered that TrES-2b was one of them. The light reflected by the
newfound extra solar planet, or exoplanet, changed by only about 6.5 parts per million,
relative to the brightness of the host star which was the smallest photometric signal
ever discovered. The most important result from Kepler Mission about this planet is that it has
an extremely low geometric albedo, making it so exceptionally dark. Now if the doubt arises about
albedo then just know that Albedo is the amount of light reflected off a surface. It is the darkest
planet found till date. Also, it is believed to be tidally locked like our moon so one of the planet
always faces the star and shows changing phases just like our moon which causes the brightness in
the star as well as planet to vary slenderly. Such a slight cause in the hole of darkness
didn't make any difference yet the observation was noted. Though TrES-2b is exceptionally dark
and infrequent, astronomers nevertheless awaits the discovery of similar planets around it. Also,
TrES-2b was initially found within the field of view of the NASA Kepler mission which now
has become a keen interest of astronomers seizing illustrious attention and ensuring that hundreds
of upcoming transits will be observed with magnificent precision and sanctioning a host
of unparalleled investigations. It is not less than a challenge to discover planets like this
and challenges like this are the greatest love of astronomers and a nice source of entertainment for
us which leaves us wondering, can life exist on TrES-2b or what if one daylight will be detected,
or how dark that planet can really be? We keep wondering, astronomers keeps discovering
and the planets keeps surprising…And they will probably keep us surprising in the future too.
So what do you think about these strange planets? Do you know of other strange exoplanets? Let us
know your thoughts and questions in the comment section below. And don't forget to like the
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