New observations of a football-shaped exoplanet known as the WASP-121b revealed evidence of it’s a the atmosphere and Atmosphere. Astronomers say maybe metallic clouds composed of iron and corundum, and titanium.
WASP-121b orbits a star 850 light-years from Earth and is twice the size of Jupiter. (classified as he isjupiterwhich means that a The spinning gas giant relatively close she has Star.) WASP-121bccomplete A revolution in just 30 hours – a little longer than Earth Day. like that It has a strange rectangular shapedue to the strong gravitational forces to which the planet is subjected.
But the truly amazing element in The latest results are details about the climate of the planet. how was he The temperature drops at night And the It changes throughout the atmosphere. The team observed hot Jupiter using the Hubble Space Telescope, and study them He is published This week in Nature Astronomy.
Tansu Dylan, an MIT astrophysicist and co-author of the paper, said in a statement Press release from the institute. “The night side of WASP-121b is about 10 times weaker than its day side. »
The drastically different temperatures on both sides of the planet create a dynamic environment for the different particles floating around in the atmosphere. in broad daylightAnd the water blast By about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit And exploded on the night side of the planet per 11,000Winds in miles per hour. “These winds are much faster than our jet stream, and they can probably move clouds all over the planet in about 20 hours,” Dylan said.
On the night side, hydrogen and oxygen atoms combine, Only to return to the side of the day to separate again. It is far more volatile than Earth’s water cycle than evaporation, condensation, and rain, even when our world is at its most violent.
Additionally, the night side of the planet is cool enough to showcase the metal clouds. Hot temperatures on the hot side of the planet can vaporize iron, corundum and titanium, which could cause the heavy metal rain to fall on the cold side as the gas clouds move. Previously, another interesting planet – WASP 76b—showed signs Similar phenomenon.
Following recent Hubble sightings, the team set aside time to observe the newly launched rocket Webb Space Telescope, which is expected to begin scientific work this summer. (Currently, Webb He is Still in preparation.) They want to map carbon monoxide on the planet, which led author Thomas Michael Evans, an astrophysicist at MIT, He said This could help researchers understand how hot Jupiter is appearance.
For millions of years, tidal forces have persisted WASP121-b will tear distant planet. until then, The planet will continue its extraordinary dance day and night.
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