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Astronomers who use James Webb Space Telescope have modeled the climate on a distant exoplanet, revealing winds whipping the planet at speeds of 5,000 miles per hour.
The researchers observed the exoplanet WASP-43 b, located 280 light years away. It is a type of exoplanet called Jupiter hot that is similar in size and mass to Jupiter, but orbits much closer to its star at just 1.3 million miles away, much closer than Mercury to the Sun. It is so close to its star that gravity holds it instead, with one side always facing the star and the other always facing space, so that one side (called the day side) is burning hot and the other side (called the night side) is much colder. This temperature difference creates epic winds that buffet the planet’s equator.
This artist’s concept shows what the gas giant exoplanet WASP-43 b could look like. WASP-43 b is a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a star about 280 light years away in the Sextans constellation. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
“With Hubble, we could clearly see that there is water vapor on the dayside. “Both Hubble and Spitzer suggested there could be clouds on the night side,” said lead author Taylor Bell of the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in a statement. statement. “But we needed more precise measurements from Webb to begin to really map temperature, cloud cover, winds and more detailed atmospheric composition around the planet.”
The researchers used Webb’s MIRI instrument to observe different temperatures across the planet, which average 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit (1,250 degrees Celsius) on the day side compared to 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit (600 degrees Celsius) on the night side. “The fact that we can map temperature in this way is a real testament to the sensitivity and stability of Webb,” said co-author Michael Roman from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.
The researchers were also able to use the data to measure water vapor and methane across the planet, helping them learn about the positions and thickness of clouds in the atmosphere. Although the researchers saw water vapor on both the day and night sides of the planet, surprisingly, they did not see methane.
“The fact that we don’t see methane tells us that WASP-43 b must have wind speeds reaching something like 5,000 miles per hour,” said co-author Joanna Barstow of the Open University in the United Kingdom. “If winds move gas from the day side to the night side and back quickly enough, there is not enough time for the expected chemical reactions to produce detectable amounts of methane on the night side.”
The research is published in Nature Astronomy.
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