The planet VHS 1256 b, with a 22-hour day, orbits two stars and completes one year of its orbit in the equivalent of 10,000 Earth years.
A team of international astronomers led by the University of Arizona (USA) observed with the James Webb Space Telescope a massive dust storm in the atmosphere of the exoplanet VHS 1256 b. This remote planet, regarding 20 times the mass of Jupiter, is located 40 light-years from Earth. The brightness changes resulting from this encircling swirl of hot silicate clouds are so dramatic that it has become the most variable planetary mass object known to date.
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This ‘super Jupiter’ requires 10,000 Earth years to complete its orbit around its two host stars. Its atmosphere is extremely dynamic and shows constant convective movements of sand as it completes its 22-hour day. High in its atmosphere, where silicate clouds churn, temperatures reach 830°C.
“VHS 1256 b is regarding four times farther from its stars than Pluto is from our Sun, making it a great target for Webb,” commented Brittany Miles, from the University of Arizona, coordinator of the study.
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Investigators confirmed the detection of water, methane and carbon monoxide and traces of carbon dioxide. This is the largest number of molecules ever identified all at once on a planet outside our solar system.
‘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 are seeing many molecules in a single Webb spectrum detailing the planet’s dynamic cloud and weather systems,” he added. The scientists’ findings were published this Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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