The exoplanet that the astronomersastronomers known as Wasp-107b is located about 200 light-years from Earth. It is a planet “cotton candy”. Understand that its density is incredibly low. About the size of Jupiter, it has only one-tenth of its mass. It is also tidally locked. This means that one side of the planet always faces its starstar while the other is plunged into perpetual night. And researchers from the University of Arizona (United States) have just discovered another surprising characteristic.
The atmosphere of this exoplanet changes from west to east
In the review Nature Astronomythe researchers explain how they used the very classic technique of transmission spectroscopy with the James Webb Space TelescopeJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to learn more about the atmosphere of this exoplanet. Thanks to new techniques and the precision of the JWST, they were able, for the first time, to separate the signals coming from the east and west sides of theatmosphereatmosphere of Wasp-107b.
James Webb solves mysteries of ‘cotton candy’ exoplanet Wasp-107b
Their conclusion: the atmosphere of this exoplanet has an east-west asymmetry. Understand that there is a significant difference between the two ends of its atmosphere. And this is important for understanding the climate, atmospheric dynamics and weather conditions that prevail on Wasp-107b.
Observations contrary to models
But models suggested that a planet like this shouldn’t have this kind of asymmetry at all. So astronomers plan to look in even more detail at the observational data already collected – or yet to be collected – with the James Webb Space Telescope to understand the origins of this asymmetry.
