Extra-Solar planets (E)
Indian astronomers have discovered a new method to study the atmospheres of extra-solar planets using the polarization of light. Sujan Sengupta, a scientist at the based Indian Institute of Astrophysics, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, GOI, suggested a few decades ago that the thermal radiation of exoplanets (or the hot young planets orbiting other stars), would also be polarized… And measure of this polarization might also unveil the chemical composition and other properties of the exo-planetary atmosphere. Now Aritra Chakraborty, a postdoctoral researcher working with Sujan Sengupta, has developed a detailed three-dimensional numerical method for the same, and simulated the polarization of exoplanets. The research, published in 'The Astrophysical Journal', could help study the exoplanet's atmosphere as well as its chemical composition. This research by the Indian scientists will help in designing instruments with appropriate sensitivity and guide the observers.
