Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope has spotted another alien planet at the edge of our universe where everyday is a scorcher.
Named VHS 1256 b, the planet is about 40 light-years away and orbits not one, but two stars over a 10,000-year period.
What makes this planet unique is its atmosphere which consists of swirling clouds of silicate, bringing temperatures to a scorching 830 degrees Celsius.
The planet has a 22-hour day, during which the clouds in its atmosphere are constantly rising, mixing and moving, bringing hotter material up and pushing colder material down.
‘VHS 1256 b is about four times farther from its stars than Pluto is from our Sun, which makes it a great target for Webb,’ said Brittany Miles of the University of Arizona, who leads the study.
‘That means the planet’s light is not mixed with light from its stars.’
The team also made ‘extraordinarily clear’ detections of water, methane, and carbon monoxide with Webb’s data, and found evidence of carbon dioxide on the planet.
This is the largest number of molecules ever identified all at once on a planet outside our solar system.
Although all of the features the team observed have been spotted on other planets elsewhere in the Milky Way by other telescopes, other research teams typically identified only one at a time.
‘No other telescope has identified so many features at once for a single target,’ said co-author Andrew Skemer of the University of California, Santa Cruz. ‘We’re seeing a lot of molecules in a single spectrum from Webb that detail the planet’s dynamic cloud and weather systems.’
Within the planet’s clouds, Webb detected both larger and smaller silicate dust grains, which are shown on a spectrum.
‘The finer silicate grains in its atmosphere may be more like tiny particles in smoke,’ noted the study’s co-author Beth Biller of the University of Edinburgh.
‘The larger grains might be more like very hot, very small sand particles.’
VHS 1256 b has low gravity compared to more massive dwarf planets, which means that its silicate clouds can appear and remain higher in its atmosphere where Webb can detect them.
Another reason its skies are so turbulent is the planet’s age. In astronomical terms, it’s quite young. Only 150 million years have passed since it formed – and it will continue to change and cool over billions of years.
Since it’s so far from its stars, it will become colder over time, and its skies may transition from cloudy to clear.
Scientists consider this just the beginning of what they are yet to learn about the new planet using Webb’s data.
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