Science and Technology Science and Technology
Wed, February 19, 2025
Tue, February 18, 2025
[ Tue, Feb 18th ] - Politico
Culling the AI workforce
[ Tue, Feb 18th ] - MSN
GMFS Birthdays!
[ Tue, Feb 18th ] - Techopedia
Is Poker a Sport?

Exoplanet's Winds 'Challenge Our Understanding of How Weather Works'


Published on 2025-02-18 12:22:28 - MSN
  Print publication without navigation

  • "It feels like something out of science fiction," said European Southern Observatory astrophysicist Julia Victoria Seidel.

The article discusses the discovery of extreme weather conditions on the exoplanet WASP-121 b, located 880 light-years away from Earth. Observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope over several years have revealed that this exoplanet, which orbits very closely to its star, experiences winds of thousands of miles per hour, leading to significant atmospheric dynamics. These winds are so powerful that they cause the atmosphere to be unevenly distributed, with hotter and cooler regions, challenging current models of exoplanetary atmospheres. The atmosphere of WASP-121 b shows signs of massive temperature variations, with temperatures reaching up to 3,400 degrees Fahrenheit on the side facing the star, and cooler temperatures on the opposite side. This extreme weather, including the potential for massive cyclones, provides new insights into how weather systems might operate on other planets, suggesting that our understanding of atmospheric physics might need reevaluation when applied to exoplanets with such extreme conditions.

Read the Full MSN Article at:
[ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/exoplanet-s-winds-challenge-our-understanding-of-how-weather-works/ar-AA1zilIy ]