Scientists who make an interesting discovery about exoplanets – they may differ from Earth more than previously thought

Astronomers have already discovered thousands of exoplanets in our galaxy, that is, those that exist It revolves around a star other than the sun. Astronomer Siyi Xu and geologist Keith Putrinki were of particular interest to those in orbit white dwarfs It causes what is called “radioactive contamination”. Scientists decided to estimate The chemical composition of the polluted white dwarf orbitWhat became the basis of their scientific publication.

they found it rocky exoplanets More diverse than previously assumed. The results of scientists’ research showed that the rocks of these exoplanets have a different mineral composition than that found on Earth.

Apparently the father. rocky planets We should know more. After all, we live on one of them. It turns out that rocky exoplanets It may differ greatly from Earth. A team made up of Ph.D. in astronomy Siya Xu and Keith Putrinka, a geologist at California State University, decided to investigate the Atmosphere of polluted white dwarfsThat is, the remnants of dense, collapsing stars that still produce a gravitational field strong enough to rotate the remnants of ancient exoplanets.

Scientists studied the atmosphere of 23 of these objects, which are no more than 650 light-years from the Sun. It turned out that the mineral content of some of them differed so much that scientists had to come up with new names for the rocks, for example quartz pyroxenite.

This extensive research was made possible thanks to the app Hubble Space Telescope. It has been observed that the rocks of exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs contain much more magnesium than silicon (Earth has more silicon). Interestingly, the elements are supposed to come from the outer planet’s mantle, not its crust.