Webb Observes Exoplanet That May Have an Exotic Helium and Carbon Atmosphere
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As NASA's Webb telescope reveals an exoplanet with a potentially exotic helium and carbon atmosphere, the discussion veers into a playful exploration of the planet's hypothetical inhabitants and their possible quirks. Commenters trade lighthearted jokes about the aliens' voices and diamond-rich landscapes, while others share relevant videos and ponder the broader implications of discovering diverse planetary compositions. The conversation takes a more philosophical turn as participants debate the "Great Filter" hypothesis, with some speculating about the potential risks and trade-offs that might affect the emergence and survival of life in the universe. Amidst the humor and curiosity, a nuanced discussion unfolds about the significance of this discovery and its potential to shed new light on the mysteries of the cosmos.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7pu0Dhu87o
What a weird setup.
I love all of this crazy stuff we've been finding recently. And not that this planet could support it, but I also love what this unexpected diversity in planetary bodies means for the possibility of weird and unpredictable formulas for life.
I hope we keep finding crazy stuff like this. I hope it accelerates. I hope we find life soon. I need it.
Whatever the first civilization is to cause something like vacuum collapse could destroy the entire universe at the speed of light. Maybe it's already happened somewhere and is currently propagating our way.
(Also, I would bet on there being lots of little filters rather than one great one. Stack a dozen or so independent filters that only 1% of upstart life can develop through, and you can easily explain the apparent absence of life capable of broadcasting their existence, making life as developed as humanity extremely rare.)
Life may have existed elsewhere but it can be incredibly difficult to get started, let alone having higher intelligence coexist in the same vicinity of space at the same time!
Tack on that it appears space is expanding faster than the speed of light…
They use H2 instead of He. Is that good enough?
* It's probably too hot there (2000K in the cold part) for fullerene. The atmosphere there is mostly C2, C3 and CO. (CO is mentioned in the paper as a very good guess, but not mentioned in the press release.)
* If you fill a fullerene with H2 or He, it will float less instead of more.
Anyway, at so high pressure and density, I expect molecules with big voids to be crushed.
(The worst example of this I've seen was a few years back, when CNN briefly used a picture of a cow to "illustrate" an article about coconut milk).
Now, would clouds around such a weird planet take such a familiar shape? I doubt it. But going with that familiar shape is probably better then making up something weird to happen at the stretched ends.
The terminator is only secondarily significant here, but since it lies in a plane perpendicular to this axis, any bands should be parallel to it. But since this means that there will be a "hot side" and a "cold side" and convective cells between these will probably eliminate any banding.
> it's still spinning pretty dang fast, enough that the gas doesn't have
> to settle into hot and cold sides.
Except that by spinning on the same axis [more correctly, on axes normal to the same plane] at the same rate the atmosphere is stationary in the co-rotating frame. That's what it means to be tidally locked. The gas is already divided into a hot side (always facing the star) and a cold side (always facing away).
Now I'm wondering if the planet is tidally locked, otherwise the forces on the extended and retracted bits of the lemon would shift widely as the planet rotates. Actually we could then model the extended bit as a giant tidal wave, er, tidal cloud. What a world.
"A Carbon-rich Atmosphere on a Windy Pulsar Planet", PSR J2322–2650b.
No one bothered to link to it, but fortunately Google picked it up.