Astronomers detect new chemical signature in an exoplanet's atmosphere using Subaru Telescope

An international collaboration of astronomers led by a researcher from the Astrobiology Center and Queen's University Belfast has detected a new chemical signature in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet--i.e., a planet that orbits a star other than our sun. The hydroxyl radical (OH) was found on the dayside of the exoplanet WASP-33b. This planet is a so-called 'ultra-hot Jupiter," a gas-giant planet orbiting its host star much closer than Mercury orbits the sun (Figure 1) and therefore reachi...