Scientists may have found water planet

Scientists suggested in their recent study Wednesday that a strange planet that has a shiny atmosphere could contain large amounts of water vapours.

Researchers maintained that the planet in question is outside our solar system at a 40-light-year distance and is totally covered in a deep haze that has made it difficult to study since it was first discovered in late 2009.

Lead author of the study Eliza Kempton said she's been trying to get a clearer picture of the planet for more than a decade.

Kempton who is also an associate professor of Astronomy at the University of Maryland noted: "Whatever is making up the hazes or clouds is not what we expected. It's bright, it's reflective and that's confusing and surprising."

"This is going to point us toward a lot of further studies to try to understand what those hazes could be," Professor Kempton said.

The new information about the planet named GJ 1214b was made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope. Planets like these are regarded as mini-Neptune planets due to their small size than Neptune but with a similar atmospheric composition.

Nasa said: "They are the most common type of planet in the galaxy, although none exist in our solar system."

During the study of GJ 1214b, researchers tracked the planet through nearly its entire orbit over the course of about 40 hours, said NASA.

The planet's year takes only 1.6 Earth days.

In a Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory post, Kempton said: "The ability to get a full orbit was really critical to understand how the planet distributes heat from the day side to the night side.”

There's a lot of difference between day and night. The planet’s night side is colder than the day side, with temperatures shifting from 535 to 326 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are cool temperatures than expected. Nasa defined that the cooler temperatures are caused by an "unusually shiny atmosphere."

The researchers have found that the planet could be a water world, meaning its atmosphere "likely contains water vapour — possibly even significant amounts," the University of Maryland said.

Kempton said: "This is not a primordial atmosphere. It does not reflect the composition of the host star it formed around. Instead, it either lost a lot of hydrogen, if it started with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, or it was formed from heavier elements, to begin with – more icy, water-rich material."

The research suggested that GJ 1214b may have formed farther away from its star, then moved inward toward its current orbit.

"The simplest explanation, if you find a very water-rich planet, is that it formed farther away from the host star," Kempton added.