The new study on the presence of multiple metals as well as the possible presence of water on Exoplanet WASP-127b has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. A team of researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain and the University of Cambridge have published a new study showing that Exoplanet WASP-127b is likely to hold multiple metals in its atmosphere as judged by its ‘fingerprints’, while there is also the distinct possibility that the exoplanet may also harbor water. It was also discovered that while WASP-127b only has around 20 percent of the mass of Jupiter, its radius was still found to be 1.4 times more enormous, as Phys.org report. Sitting 332 light years away from Earth, WASP-127b is one of the least dense gas giant exoplanets ever discovered, a feature which makes it unique among thousands of extra-solar worlds cataloged to date. The length of time this exoplanet takes to complete the orbit around its sun has been measured as being just four days and the temperature on the surface of this gaseous planet is estimated to be a whopping 1400 K (1127° C). In what marks a first for an exoplanet, the atmosphere of WASP-127b was found to hold the alkali metals of lithium, sodium, and potassium, and the detection of sodium and potassium is an indicator that this exoplanet most likely has a fairly clear atmosphere. The IAC’s Dr. Guo Chen, who is also the lead author of the new study, confirmed that the presence of lithium may be the key to understanding more about how this particular exoplanet evolved over time. The planet’s host star, WASP-127, is also lithium rich, which could point to an AGB star – a bright red giant thousands of times brighter than the Sun – or a supernova having enriched the cloud of material from which this system originated. An international team of astronomers detected "fingerprints" of metals in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time as well as possible signs of water, a find that could bolster the search for life beyond Earth.
A study has been revealed that WASP-127b might have possible traces of water.