Earthly scientists measure magnetic ground of exoplanet

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NEW YORK: For the first time ever, earthly scientists have been intelligent to measure the magnetic ground of an exoplanet – a planet rotating a distant star far from our own planetary system.
A new research study that concerned measuring the solar winds given off from a far-off star and how they would cooperate with one of the planets of that star has newly been published in a major scientific journal, smooth the way for other exoplanets to have their magnetic fields measured in the same way. Scientists say that the magnetic field of a particular planet plays a crucial role in its evolution – and could possibly be one of the telltale marks of an exoplanet being able to support life in ways similar to our own.
The study’s lead author Kristina Kisylakova, from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, says that a planet’s magnetic field shields if from stellar wind particles. Without a strong enough field, the atmosphere of a planet can erode – making it important to determine the strength of an exoplanet’s magnetic field, she added.
Researchers chose HD 209458B, an exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star in the Pegasus constellation. The planet itself, a gas giant that has has 70 percent of the mass of Jupiter while being around 40 percent larger than it, is remarkably close to its star – closer than Mercury is to our own sun.Because of its close proximity to the star, HD 209458b’s atmosphere blows away from the intense heat, leaving a comet-like tail in its wake.
Scientists analyzed the spectrum of light given off by the exoplanet using the Hubble Space Telescope, discovering that the hydrogen atoms in the atmosphere were being blown out and were trailing off at an odd and unsuspected angle. 3D modeling was used to determine why this was happening, and after including known data about how stellar winds interact with planetary atmospheres, the scientists determined both the speed of the stellar wind – around 895,000 mph – and the strength of the exoplanet’s magnetic field – about 10 percent that of Jupiter’s own field. While HD 209458B won’t be hosting any life of its own any time soon, the science used to determine its magnetic field strength can be used to identify planets that might be able to in the future.