Exploring the Atmosphere of Hot Jupiter WASP-43 b with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

Friday - May 3 2024, 04:39 UTC - 6 months ago

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has discovered unexpected weather patterns on hot Jupiter WASP-43 b, including supersonic winds and thick, high clouds on the nightside. These findings provide valuable insights into the complex processes at work on this exoplanet. Webb's advanced technology has opened up new possibilities for studying distant worlds like WASP-43 b.

Sometimes not finding something is just as exciting and useful as finding it. Take hot Jupiter WASP-43 b, for example. This tidally locked world has a searing-hot, permanent dayside and a somewhat cooler nightside. Astronomers using Webb to map the temperature and analyze the atmosphere around the planet expected to detect methane, a common carbon molecule, on the nightside. But there is clearly no sign of it .

Why? The result suggests that supersonic winds of hot gas are blowing around from the dayside, thoroughly churning up the atmosphere, and preventing the chemical reactions that would otherwise produce methane on the nightside. This unexpected finding provides key insights into the complex processes at work on this fascinating exoplanet. The international team of researchers behind this discovery used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather patterns on WASP-43 b in detail .

Through precise brightness measurements over a broad spectrum of mid-infrared light, combined with 3D climate models and previous observations from other telescopes, they were able to identify the presence of thick, high clouds on the nightside, clear skies on the dayside, and equatorial winds reaching speeds of 5,000 miles per hour - all contributing to the unique atmosphere of this hot gas giant .

The study, published on April 30 in Nature Astronomy, is just one example of the incredible exoplanet science now possible with Webb's advanced capabilities.