Exoplanet WASP-94A b:
Scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have mapped weather patterns on the exoplanet WASP-94A b, located nearly 700 light-years from Earth.
- WASP-94A b is a gaseous extra-solar planet located approximately 700 lightyears away from Earth. Its atmospheric dynamics and distinct morning-and-evening weather systems were mapped using the unprecedented infrared sensitivity of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
- It is classified as a “hot Jupiter” gas giant; it is roughly twice the physical size of Jupiter but contains only half of its absolute mass.
- The planet orbits exceptionally close to its parent host star, completing a full revolution in just four days. This extreme proximity leaves the planet tidally locked, synchronizing its rotation with its revolution.
- Because it is tidally locked, one side perennially faces the star as a scorching desert hot enough to melt rock, while the perennially dark nightside drops close to absolute zero.
- The planet features a starkly divided atmosphere. Its mornings are blanketed by heavy clouds composed of magnesium silicate, iron, and magnesium sulphide, whereas its early evenings sport completely clear skies.
- Clouds continuously form on the cooler nightside, are swept rapidly across the globe by ferocious, extremely fast winds, and promptly dissipate/vaporize upon entering the blistering dayside.
- Astronomers isolated the planet’s atmospheric signature from its host star using the transit method. By split-scanning the light at different wavelengths as the planet passed slowly in front of the star, they mapped variations between the morning and evening horizons.
