NASA scientists are studying the atmosphere of another distant exoplanet. Researchers hope these studies will uncover knowledge about other atmospheres and find more potentially habitable worlds.
Scientists have long been studying exoplanets, discovering more around distant stars, some of which bear the potential of life-sustaining elements. NASA announced last September that scientists had discovered carbon-bearing molecules like methane and carbon dioxide on a known K2-18 b, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The space agency announced on January 4 that its Hubble Telescope has been studying the atmosphere of a Jupiter-sized uninhabitable planet named WASP-121 b, located about 880 light-years away. Scientists believe that the variability of weather found in planets of our system can also be found on other worlds.
Using data from 2016, 2018, and 2019 and computational models and simulations, scientists discovered that the planet has a “dynamic” atmosphere with distinct weather patterns. These patterns are partly due to the planet being tidally locked to its parent star.
“The team found that WASP-121 b’s atmosphere shows notable differences between observations. Most dramatically, there could be massive weather fronts, storms, and massive cyclones that are repeatedly created and destroyed due to the large temperature difference between the star-facing side and dark side of the exoplanet,” read the report from NASA.
Quentin Changeat, one of the study’s principal investigators, said that the models and observations provided an “exquisite picture of the planet changing over time.”
“This is a hugely exciting result as we move forward for observing weather patterns on exoplanets,” said Changeat, according to NASA. “Studying exoplanets’ weather is vital to understanding the complexity of exoplanet atmospheres on other worlds, especially in the search for exoplanets with habitable conditions.”
Researchers hope to use this study to understand other worlds in the cosmos better.
“The remarkable details of our exoplanet atmosphere simulations allows us to accurately model the weather on ultra-hot planets like WASP-121 b,” said Jack Skinner, co-leader of this study, according to NASA. “Here we make a significant step forward by combining observational constraints with atmosphere simulations to understand the time-varying weather on these planets.”
