{"id":370016,"date":"2026-04-01T21:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/370016\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:15:12","slug":"gemini-south-confirms-long-suspected-link-between-the-composition-of-exoplanets-and-their-host-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/370016\/","title":{"rendered":"Gemini South Confirms Long-Suspected Link Between the Composition of Exoplanets and Their Host Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost 320 light-years away in the\u00a0Libra constellation<\/a>\u00a0lies\u00a0WASP-189b<\/a>, an exoplanet known as an ultra-hot Jupiter (UHJ<\/a>). UHJs have temperatures high enough to vaporize rock-forming elements like magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si), and iron (Fe), offering a rare opportunity to see these elements using spectroscopy \u2014 the technique of breaking up light into its component wavelengths to identify the presence of chemicals.<\/p>\n

An international team of astronomers led by Jorge Antonio Sanchez, a graduate student at Arizona State University (ASU) observed WASP-189b using the high-resolution Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph (IGRINS) when it was mounted on the\u00a0Gemini South telescope<\/a>\u00a0in Chile\u00a0[1]<\/a>. This powerful instrument allowed them to simultaneously measure the\u00a0magnesium<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0silicon<\/a>\u00a0content of the exoplanet\u2019s atmosphere. This is the first time such a measurement has been made, and the data reveal that WASP-189b shares the same magnesium-to-silicon ratio as its host star. This finding provides the first observational evidence of a widely adopted assumption about planet formation, and opens a new route to understand how exoplanets form and evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese discoveries show Gemini’s ability to help us understand the characteristics of the remarkable zoo of exoplanets in our solar neighborhood,\u201d\u00a0says Chris Davis, NSF Program Director for NOIRLab.\u00a0\u201cSuch discoveries are only possible because of Gemini’s cutting-edge instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hot giant planets like WASP-189b are thought to have an outer layer of gas that has a chemical composition influenced by the disk of material in which they formed, known as\u00a0protoplanetary disks<\/a>. And researchers assume that the ratio of rock-forming elements in a protoplanetary disk matches that of the host star, since the two were born from the same primordial cloud of material.<\/p>\n

This inferred chemical link between a star and the planets that form around it is commonly used to model the composition of rocky exoplanets. This link was previously based on measurements within our Solar System, and it had not been directly observed on planets elsewhere, until now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWASP-189b gives us a much-needed observational anchor in our understanding of terrestrial planet formation since it offers a measurable quantity that validates the presumed resemblance of stellar composition and the proportion of rocky material around host stars used to form planets,\u201d\u00a0says Sanchez.<\/p>\n

This assumption is not only useful for understanding planet formation, but it is also foundational to the field of\u00a0astrobiology<\/a>, which includes the study of habitable environments in the Solar System. By measuring the chemical composition of a star, scientists can infer the abundances of rock-forming elements in the star\u2019s exoplanets, which can dictate the geochemical conditions that make a planet habitable. For instance, the rock-forming elements in Earth are in-part responsible for our protective magnetic field, plate tectonics, and driving the release of life-sustaining chemicals into our atmosphere, oceans, and soil.<\/p>\n

As the exoplanet field looks towards the characterization of terrestrial planets, and seeks to elucidate the habitable conditions of rocky worlds, empirical evidence validating the relationship between stellar and planetary compositions represents a fundamental step forward. And the level of spectral resolution necessary for these types of studies is currently only available on ground-based telescopes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study demonstrates the capability of ground-based, high-resolution spectrographs to constrain critical species like magnesium and silicon, which are two elemental building blocks from which rocky planets form,\u201d\u00a0says study co-author Michael Line, Associate Professor at ASU.\u00a0\u201cThis advancing capability opens an entirely new dimension in our study of exoplanet atmospheres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further multi-wavelength, high-resolution observations to study exoplanet atmospheres like that of WASP-189b will help reveal the larger chemical inventory that exists within distant worlds. Such studies will enable deeper insights into the conditions that govern planetary origins, evolution, and potential habitability.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

[1] IGRINS was a visiting instrument at Gemini South from 2022 to 2023. It has\u00a0since left<\/a>\u00a0the telescope to return to its home institution. The instrument was so successful that a new iteration of it \u2014\u00a0IGRINS-2<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 was\u00a0commissioned<\/a>\u00a0as a facility instrument for the\u00a0Gemini North telescope<\/a>\u00a0in Hawai\u2018i.<\/p>\n

More information<\/p>\n

This research was presented in a paper titled \u201cA stellar magnesium-to-silicon ratio in the atmosphere of an exoplanet\u201d to appear in\u00a0Nature Communications. DOI:\u00a010.1038\/s41467-026-69610-x<\/a><\/p>\n

The team is composed of J. A Sanchez (Arizona State University, USA), P. C.B. Smith (Arizona State University, USA), K. Kanumalla (Arizona State University, USA), L. Welbanks (Arizona State University, USA), M. R. Line (Arizona State University, USA), S. Pelletier (University of Geneva, Switzerland), S. Desch (Arizona State University, USA), P. Young (Arizona State University, USA), J. Patience (Arizona State University, USA), J. Bean (University of Chicago, USA), M. Brogi (University of Turin\/INAF, Italy), D. Jaffe (The University of Texas at Austin, USA), G. N. Mace (The University of Texas at Austin, USA), M. W. Mansfield (Arizona State University\/University of Maryland, USA), V. Panwar (University of Warwick, UK), V. Parmentier (Universit\u00e9 C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur\/CNRS, France), L. Pino (INAF, Italy), A. Baliga Savel (University of Maryland, USA), L. Van Sluijs (University of Michigan, USA), & J. P. Wardenier (University of Montr\u00e9al, Canada).<\/p>\n

NSF NOIRLab<\/a>, the U.S. National Science Foundation center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the\u00a0International Gemini Observatory<\/a>\u00a0(a facility of\u00a0NSF<\/a>,\u00a0NRC\u2013Canada<\/a>,\u00a0ANID\u2013Chile<\/a>,\u00a0MCTIC\u2013Brazil<\/a>,\u00a0MINCyT\u2013Argentina<\/a>, and\u00a0KASI\u2013Republic of Korea<\/a>), NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO<\/a>), NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO<\/a>), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC<\/a>), and NSF\u2013DOE\u00a0Vera C. Rubin Observatory<\/a>\u00a0(in cooperation with\u00a0DOE<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0SLAC<\/a>\u00a0National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA<\/a>) under a cooperative agreement with\u00a0NSF<\/a>\u00a0and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The scientific community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on\u00a0I\u2019oligam Du\u2019ag\u00a0(Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on\u00a0Maunakea\u00a0in Hawai\u2018i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pach\u00f3n in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence of\u00a0I\u2019oligam Du\u2019ag\u00a0to the Tohono O\u2019odham Nation, and\u00a0Maunakea\u00a0to the\u00a0Kanaka Maoli\u00a0(Native Hawaiians) community.<\/p>\n

IGRINS is a collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI<\/a>), and like the\u00a0International Gemini Observatory<\/a>, receives funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

LinksContacts<\/p>\n

Jorge Antonio Sanchez
Arizona State University
Email:\u00a0jasanc69@asu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Josie Fenske
Public Information Officer
NSF NOIRLab
Email:\u00a0josie.fenske@noirlab.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost 320 light-years away in the\u00a0Libra constellation\u00a0lies\u00a0WASP-189b, an exoplanet known as an ultra-hot Jupiter (UHJ). UHJs have temperatures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[178089,85,46,983,93550,141,30135],"class_list":{"0":"post-370016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-hot-jupiterexoplanetexoplanet-atmospherensf-noirlabinternational-gemini-observatorygemini-south-telescope","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-newswise","12":"tag-nsf","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-space-and-astronomy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}