A British - American squad of researchers has used the Hubble and Spitzer space telescope to comfortably understand a peculiar and presently unique planet , WASP-39b . The object is a hot Saturn , signify it ’s rough the same size as the resound planet but much nearer to its star .

The observations , report in theAstronomical Journal , revealed that although the researchers require to see water , they were surprise by how much piss they found . In fact , this exoplanet ’s ambiance is three clock time fertile in water than Saturn ’s own . This peculiar fact suggests that this particular planet must have form away from its parent superstar , where icy comets and asteroid collided with it , and then migrated inward .

“ WASP-39b show exoplanets can have much unlike typography than those of our solar organization , ” co - author David Sing of the University of Exeter , say in astatement .

“ Hopefully this diverseness we see in exoplanets will give us hint in figuring out all the different ways a major planet can organise and acquire . ”

The exoplanet is locate   700 light - years aside in the configuration Virgo , and 7 million km ( 4,350,000 mile ) from its star , which is about twenty times near than the Earth is from the Sun . It is tidally put away with one face always facing the star . That side reaches a temperature of 776.7 ° C ( 1,430 ° F ) . This propinquity pass on WASP-39b some unusual looks , too . It has the mass of Saturn but it is so puffy that it is fully grown than Jupiter .

Crucially for these observations , the hot atmosphere is free of high altitude swarm . Researchers were able to peer right down into the planet and gather the info about the water message . Without it , the squad would n’t have been able-bodied to remodel its potential constitution .

“ We need to expect outwards so we can understand our own solar scheme , ” explained lead investigator Hannah Wakeford of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore , Maryland , and the University of Exeter . “ But exoplanets are showing us that major planet establishment is more complicated and more confusing than we think it was . And that ’s fantastic ! ”

The team hopes that when theJames Webb Space Telescopegoes online next year , they will be able to perform an even dependable analysis . Studying C and oxygen , for instance , will grant a good understanding of where and how the planet organise .