Artists impression of GJ 3470b and its host star. Image credit: NAOJ.
A team of astronomers have used the LCOGT network to detect light scattered by tiny particles (called Rayleigh scattering), through the atmosphere of a Neptune-size transiting exoplanet. This suggests a blue sky on this world which is only 100 light years away from us.
When the orbit of an exoplanet is aligned just right for transits to occur, astronomers can measure the planet’s size at different wavelengths in order to generate a spectrum of its atmosphere >> reveals substances in the planet’s atmosphere, thus composition. This measurement is most often performed using infrared light, where the planet is brightest and most easily observed...
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