Extreme exoplanet has a complex and exotic atmosphere:

[beecee]

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-extreme-exoplanet-complex-exotic-atmosphere.html

An international team including researchers from the University of Bern and the University of Geneva as well as the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS analyzed the atmosphere of one of the most extreme known planets in great detail. The results from this hot, Jupiter-like planet that was first characterized with the help of the CHEOPS space telescope, may help astronomers understand the complexities of many other exoplanets—including Earth-like planets.

The atmosphere of Earth is not a uniform envelope but consists of distinct layers that each have characteristic properties. The lowest layer that spans from sea level beyond the highest mountain peaks, for example—the troposphere—contains most of the water vapor and is thus the layer in which most weather phenomena occur. The layer above it—the stratosphere—is the one that contains the famous ozone layer that shields us from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation.

In a new study published in Nature Astronomy, an international team of researchers led by the University of Lund show for the first time that the atmosphere of one of the most extreme known planets may have similarly distinct layers as well—albeit with very different characteristics.

more at link.................

the paper:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01581-z

Titanium oxide and chemical inhomogeneity in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-189 b

Abstract:

The temperature of an atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude, unless a shortwave absorber that causes a temperature inversion exists1. Ozone plays this role in the Earth’s atmosphere. In the atmospheres of highly irradiated exoplanets, the shortwave absorbers are predicted to be titanium oxide (TiO) and vanadium oxide (VO)2. Detections of TiO and VO have been claimed using both low-3,4,5,6 and high-7 spectral-resolution observations, but subsequent observations have failed to confirm these claims8,9,10 or overturned them11,12,13. Here we report the unambiguous detection of TiO in the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189 b14 using high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. This detection is based on applying the cross-correlation technique15 to many spectral lines of TiO from 460 to 690 nm. Moreover, we report detections of metals, including neutral and singly ionized iron and titanium, as well as chromium, magnesium, vanadium and manganese (Fe, Fe+, Ti, Ti+, Cr, Mg, V, Mn). The line positions of the detected species differ, which we interpret as a consequence of spatial gradients in their chemical abundances, such that they exist in different regions or dynamical regimes. This is direct observational evidence for the three-dimensional thermochemical stratification of an exoplanet atmosphere derived from high-resolution ground-based spectroscopy.