Scientists announce landmark detection of isotopes in planet hundreds of trillions of miles away

Discovery is "really quite special."

Published: July 17, 2021 7:09pm

Updated: July 17, 2021 10:39pm

Scientists this week announced a major molecular finding located not on Earth but on a planet hundreds of trillions of miles from our own Solar System.

An international team of researchers "have become the first in the world to detect isotopes in the atmosphere of an exoplanet," the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy said in an announcement this week.

Isotopes "are different forms of the same atom but with a varying number of neutrons in the nucleus," the Institute said in its release. Scientists using the Very Large Telescope in Chile found "an unusual ratio between [carbon] isotopes in the atmosphere of the young giant planet TYC 8998-760-1 b," which resides 300 light-years from Earth.

The scientists "successfully distinguished carbon-13 from carbon-12 because it absorbs radiation at slightly different colours," the Institute said. 

"“It is really quite special that we can measure this in an exoplanet atmosphere, at such a large distance," study lead author Yapeng Zhang said.

The Facts Inside Our Reporter's Notebook

Links

Unlock unlimited access

  • No Ads Within Stories
  • No Autoplay Videos
  • VIP access to exclusive Just the News newsmaker events hosted by John Solomon and his team.
  • Support the investigative reporting and honest news presentation you've come to enjoy from Just the News.
  • Just the News Spotlight

    Support Just the News