---
title: "An Ultra-Rare “Impossible” Planet Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of Space"
description: "Observations of the exoplanet HAT-P-26b have expanded our knowledge of how universes are formed."
date: "2017-05-15"
modified: "2017-05-15"
authors:
  - name: "Tom Ward"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/tomward"
url: "https://futurism.com/an-ultra-rare-impossible-planet-could-revolutionize-our-understanding-of-space"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "exoplanet"
  - "hat-p-26b"
  - "JWST"
  - "solar system"
  - "TESS"
---

# An Ultra-Rare “Impossible” Planet Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of Space

![hat-p-26b exoplanet tess jwst solar system](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HAT-P-26b.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-study-finds-unexpectedly-primitive-atmosphere-around-warm-neptune" target="\_blank"\>NASA\</a\>\</em\>*

## What Astronomers Found on HAT-P-26b

Scientists at the University of Exeter have discovered peculiar aspects of the Neptune-sized exoplanet HAT-P-26b using NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. Their findings contribute to our knowledge of the diversity of planets *as well as* how they are formed.

As the planet — which is [around 437 light-years from earth](<http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hat-p-26b-primitive-atmosphere-neptune-mass-exoplanet-04856.html>) — passed in front of its sun, allowing the telescopes to measure it, scientists discovered an atmosphere rich in helium, hydrogen, and water vapor. Hannah Wakeford, co-leader of the new study and postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), [said that this atmosphere would result](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/astronomers-find-water-and-weird-clouds-on-extrasolar-warm-neptune/>) in "a very alien sky \[...\] a kind of scattery, washed-out, gray sky."

The planet is also of interest because of its formation. In Earth's Solar System, *metallicity* (astronomy terminology for anything heavier than helium) tends to decrease as mass increases, but HAT-P-26b defies this pattern. While it is about the size of Neptune, its metallicity is more inline with Jupiter.

![ NASA/GSFC](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1436_spitzer20170511-16-1.jpg>)
*Image Credit: NASA/GSFC*

So, why does this matter?

David Sing, a professor at the University of Exeter [said](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/astronomers-find-water-and-weird-clouds-on-extrasolar-warm-neptune/>), "this new discovery about its atmosphere feels like a big breakthrough in our pursuit to learn more about how solar systems are formed, and how it compares to our own" because "This exciting new discovery shows that there is a lot more diversity in the atmospheres of these exoplanets than we have previously thought." And, while [thousands of exoplanets](<https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1436/warm-neptunehas-unexpectedly-primitive-atmosphere/>) have been discovered, we know relatively little about the compositions of their atmospheres.

This is the first in what promises to be a series of breakthroughs that will emerge as new telescopes launch this upcoming October. The [James Webb Space Telescope](<https://jwst.nasa.gov/>) (JWST) will allow us to explore further with a mirror that has a diameter of 6.5 meters in comparison to the Hubble-Telescope's 2.4 meter. In addition to this, the [Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite](<https://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov/overview.html>) (TESS) will provide "detailed characterizations of planets and their atmospheres"and is expected to survey more than 200,000 planets during its 2 year mission.