Picture a skyscraper at night whose lights are all on, but which only appears as a point of light because you are several kilometers away. And now, imagine that someone lowers one of the blinds in the building by a few centimetres… It is this kind of slight variation in brightness that the team led by Jason Rowe, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Bishop’s University, is attempting to observe in exoplanets. These changes are caused, among other things, by variations in weather conditions, combined with planetary rotation. If predicting the weather in Québec over the next few days is a challenge, imagine trying to predict the weather on planets thousands of light-years away!
Knowing more about this weather could help us to better understand the formation of exoplanets. For two months, Jason Rowe and his team observed variations in the brightness of the gas planets Uranus and Neptune. Using data from the Kepler telescope, they studied these solar system planets to develop a method that would be useful for better understanding exoplanets.
The team also hoped to be able to measure the oscillation signals of Uranus and Neptune, but without success. Indeed, they were expecting to be able to detect the vibration of these gas giants caused by the convection effect brought about by the interaction between weather conditions and waves of energy from the Sun hitting Uranus and Neptune. Just as when water is heated on the stove and the hot water rises, pushing the cold water down, this flow of energy is believed to cause the planets to naturally “vibrate”. In the same way that the study of earthquakes allows us to map the interior of planet Earth, studying these oscillations could help unlock the secrets of the interior of gas giants, right down to their cores. The researchers have nevertheless established the levels of precision required to measure this oscillation, and are continuing their work to determine whether it exists.
This data will be used in preparing the mission of the Roman Space Telescope, an infrared spacecraft to be launched by NASA in 2026. Jason Rowe, who has received two NASA medals, is one of the few Canadians involved in the project.