You never know what data is going to surprisingly teach you new things. In a recent study of the atmosphere of the exoplanet TYC 8998-760-1 b, researchers were able to learn about the planet’s history from the kinds of atoms in its atmosphere. Or, more to the point, from the kinds of carbon atoms in its atmosphere.

Carbon is a pretty stable atom that has six protons and usually has six neutrons in its core. Sometimes, however, it can end up with seven neutrons and become carbon-13; and to the joy and usefulness of archeologists and paleontologists, it can sometimes end up with eight neutrons and become the ever unstable carbon-14 that is used for radiocarbon dating.

In looking at the atmosphere of this boringly named alien world, researchers expected to find about 1 in 70 carbon atoms would be carbon-13, but instead, they found 1 in 35 atoms were carbon-13! Researchers explain in a new paper appearing in the journal Nature and led by Yapeng Zhang that they believe this difference may be due to the planet’s extreme distance from its sun. Co-author Paul Molliere explains: The planet is more than one hundred and fifty times further away from its parent star than our Earth is from our Sun. At such a great distance, ices have possibly formed with more carbon-13, causing the higher fraction of this isotope in the planet’s atmosphere today.

This is, admittedly, a sample of one. We’re going to need to study a lot more planetary atmospheres to know if this is the norm or just one more weird world in a universe that refuses to be normal.

More Information

MPIA press release

NOVA press release

“The 13CO-rich atmosphere of a young accreting super-Jupiter,” Yapeng Zhang et al., 2021 July 14, Nature