Scientists Detect Titanium Oxide Compound In Distant Planet
National Aeronautics and Space Administration‘s (NASA) Hubble Space Telescope has detected the presence of titanium oxide in a distant planet. According to a study conducted by the University of Cambridge, the compound acts as an ultraviolet radiation filter of the exoplanet.
Detecting other planets is phenomenal in itself, but NASA’s newest study was able to discover the presence of a chemical compound, making the discovery more exceptional. “Detecting the presence of a stratosphere in an exoplanet and the chemical compound causing it is a major advancement in our ability to study exoplanetary atmospheres,” said the study’s co-author, Dr Nikku Madhusudhan of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge.
On Earth, ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by ozone, as the discovery by the research showed that temperature in the exoplanet called WASP-33b, is far higher than the Earth’s.
Scientists now have the technology to detect unknown planets. In 2014, NASA announced that there were 715 new discovered planets as gathered by the data from the Kepler Space Telescope. The discoveries raise the unknown planets number to 1771, whose sizes ranges from as small as the Earth to as big as Jupiter.
The Hubble Space Telescope’s discovery meanwhile provides insight about the “composition of a planet and how it is formed.” It also detected the presence of stratosphere in the distant planets and “molecules that absorb ultraviolet and visible light, acting as a kind of ‘sunscreen’ for the planet it surrounds.”
The stratosphere is the second layer of the Earth’s atmosphere where 90 percent of the ozone layer can be found. It is the layer in the Earth’s atmosphere that protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays.
Although oxygen molecules are able to absorb the Sun’s UV rays, its ozone molecules that are the most effective in absorbing the “most energetic” ultraviolet light, the UV and the UVB, which both cause skin cancer and damages to the other living things on earth.
“The protective role of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere is so vital that scientists believe life on land probably would not have evolved - and could not exist today - without it,” Windows to The Universe website stated.
The presence of the titanium oxide in the exoplanet proves that this compound help as blocking agents for UV rays. On earth, the compound has been known to be a key ingredient in sunscreens.
The Royal Society of Chemistry cited the compound, which is also known for its whitening capability, would find great use in cosmetics as protection from the sun’s harmful rays. It said that titanium dioxide is a photocatalyst, a compound that “accelerates the nature’s cleaning and purifying process using light as energy.”
Being as such, titanium dioxide has several other uses aside from protecting the skin from the ultraviolet rays. It can also be used in PV applications, which is now a huge success in clean energy ventures.
Mining companies worldwide such as White Mountain Titanium Corporation (OTCQB: WMTM) are investing in the exploration and development of titanium deposits in Chile. Titanium dioxide’s many uses make it one of the important chemicals used in everyday living.
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