NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected a display of stormy weather on a "hot Jupiter," revealing massive cyclones raging on the Jupiter-sized exoplanet known as WASP-121 b.
Colossal Cyclones on Hot Jupiter
Positioned perilously close to its star, which is brighter and hotter than the Sun, WASP-121 b experiences scorching temperatures of up to 3,400 degrees Fahrenheit in its upper atmosphere, surpassing the heat of a steel blast furnace, according to NASA.
The exoplanet's upper atmosphere experiences heightened temperatures due to the intense ultraviolet light emitted by its host star, leading to the escape of magnesium and iron gases into space.
The gravitational tidal forces from the nearby star have significantly altered the planet's shape, resulting in a more football-like appearance. Through extensive Hubble Space Telescope observations spanning 2016, 2018, and 2019, coupled with sophisticated computer modeling, astronomers have uncovered evidence of colossal cyclones on this inhospitable celestial body.
These findings are the outcome of collaborative efforts from an international team of astronomers who meticulously compiled and reprocessed Hubble observations of WASP-121 b.
The collected data, along with advanced computational modeling, unveiled dynamic changes in the exoplanet's atmosphere over time, providing a glimpse into the intricate weather patterns of distant worlds.
Noticeable Misalignment
Although WASP-121 b is unfit for human habitation due to its extreme conditions, it offers valuable insights into studying weather phenomena on distant planets. Notable variations in the exoplanet's atmosphere between observations suggest the presence of significant weather fronts, storms, and cyclones.
The team also observed a noticeable misalignment between the exoplanet's hottest region and the point closest to the star. Additionally, variations in the chemical composition of the exoplanet's atmosphere were detected through spectroscopy.
By employing computational models, the team successfully explained the observed changes in the exoplanet's atmosphere, emphasizing the significance of combining observational data with sophisticated simulations.
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Exoplanet Atmosphere Simulations
Jack Skinner, a co-leader of the study and postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology highlighted the advancement achieved by accurately modeling the weather on ultra-hot planets like WASP-121 b.
The proximity of WASP-121 b to its parent star results in an extremely short orbital period of 1.27 days, leading to tidal locking where the same hemisphere always faces the star. Daytime temperatures on the star-facing side can reach a blistering 3,450 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The assembled data-set represents a significant amount of observing time for a single planet and is currently the only consistent set of such repeated observations," said Quentin Changeat, a European Space Agency Research Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
"The information that we extracted from those observations was used to infer the chemistry, temperature, and clouds of the atmosphere of WASP-121 b at different times. This provided us with an exquisite picture of the planet changing over time."
The team's findings were published in arXiv.
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