Posted on 05/03/2024 2:09:59 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: A mere 280 light-years from Earth, tidally locked, Jupiter-sized exoplanet WASP-43b orbits its parent star once every 0.8 Earth days. That puts it about 2 million kilometers (less than 1/25th the orbital distance of Mercury) from a small, cool sun. Still, on a dayside always facing its parent star, temperatures approach a torrid 2,500 degrees F as measured at infrared wavelengths by the MIRI instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope. In this illustration of the hot exoplanet's orbit, Webb measurements also show nightside temperatures remain above 1,000 degrees F. That suggests that strong equatorial winds circulate the dayside atmospheric gases to the nightside before they can completely cool off. Exoplanet WASP-43b is now formally known as Astrolábos, and its K-type parent star has been christened Gnomon. Webb's infrared spectra indicate water vapor is present on the nightside as well as the dayside of the planet, providing information about cloud cover on Astrolábos.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
even hot on the dark side.
There is no such thing as a “cool” star. Unless perhaps it is pulsating in a jazz beat.
Interesting.
Get back to me when they find a somewhat earth-like, earth-sized planet oriting in a habitable zone around a hospitable star, shielded from deadly cosmic rays and 10 light years or so away in time and distance.
280 light years may as well be 2 million.
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Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have mapped the weather on a planet 280 light-years from Earth — a hot gas giant with one side permanently facing its sun and the other cloaked in eternal night.
The Janus-faced planet, named WASP-43b, is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium and is significantly hotter than any gas giant in our solar system, due to its closeness to its host star, which it orbits once every 19 Earth hours. This extreme proximity means WASP-43b is also tidally locked to its star.
An artist's concept of WASP-43b.Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
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