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Apr 22, 2023

Astronomers Discover Heaviest Element Ever Found in ‘Ultra-Hot Jupiter’ Exoplanet

Posted by in category: space

The gas giant, which orbits a bright A-type star 556 light-years away from Earth, has an equilibrium temperature of 2,250 K and a size of about 1.51 Jupiter radii. The researchers found rubidium and samarium in the planet’s atmosphere for the first time, alongside ions of titanium and barium.

The discovery of rubidium and samarium is particularly notable. With an atomic number of 62, samarium is the heaviest element ever detected in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.

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