First discovery of strange planet with "fire moon"

(NLDO) - NASA scientists have just discovered unprecedented signs surrounding a planet 635 light years away.

Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have found signs of a mysterious sodium cloud in the vicinity of WASP-49 b - a gas giant planet orbiting a star 635 light-years from Earth.

This interesting cloud may have helped them find the first volcanic moon outside the solar system.

Planet WASP-49 b (left) and a fiery moon between it and its parent star - Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Clouds drifting across the sky of a planet may seem like a normal thing, but WASP-49 b's clouds are strange in both location and composition.

Using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile, the JPL/NASA team found that the clouds surrounding WASP-49 b are located higher than the planet's atmosphere.

Additionally, the cloud's high sodium content and sudden changes in size further indicate that it came from another celestial body.

Both WASP-49 b and its star are mostly hydrogen and helium, with only trace amounts of sodium. The cloud, meanwhile, appears to come from a source that produces about 100,000 kilograms of sodium per second.

On two separate occasions, the researchers also observed a sudden increase in the cloud's size when it was not next to the planet, meaning it was being fueled from another source.

The cloud also appears to be moving faster than the planet, suggesting that whatever created it appears to be moving independently and faster than WASP-49 b.

Another piece of evidence that this cloud is independent of WASP-49 b is that it does not fit the planet's 2.8-day orbital period.

Using computer models, the researchers showed that the presence of an extrasolar moon with an eight-hour orbit around the planet could explain the cloud anomaly.

And this moon is an extrasolar version of the moon Io.

Io is the name of one of Jupiter's four major moons, often called the "volcanic moon" because it has hundreds of active volcanoes.

Thanks to Io, we know that such "hellish" moons can exist and can produce weird clouds like those orbiting WASP-49 b.

NASA scientists say they are still looking for more definitive signs of the volcanic moon's existence, as well as ways to observe it more closely.

If confirmed, this would be an extraordinary discovery because observing an object as small as the moon in such a distant place is extremely rare.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/lan-dau-tien-phat-hien-hanh-tinh-la-co-mat-trang-lua-196241013100149137.htm