Massive cyclones, storms... NASA’s Hubble space telescope sees chaos on exoplanet WASP-121 b

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered potential massive cyclones, storms, and dynamic weather activity on the hot, Jupiter-sized exoplanet WASP-121 b, located 880 light-years away.

This discovery, achieved by combining years of Hubble observations and sophisticated computer modeling is a crucial early step in unraveling the mysteries of weather patterns on distant worlds.

Although WASP-121 bis uninhabitable, the findings hold promise for identifying potentially habitable exoplanets with stable, long-term climates in the future.

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"The remarkable details of our exoplanet atmosphere simulations allow us to accurately model the weather on ultra-hot planets like WASP-121 b," Jack Skinner, a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, and co-leader of the study said, as per NASA.

"Here we make a significant step forward by combining observational constraints with atmosphere simulations to understand the time-varying weather on these planets."

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The international team of astronomers, led by Quentin Changeat, a European Space Agency Research Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, meticulously assembled and reprocessed Hubble observations of WASP-121 b taken in 2016, 2018, and 2019.

Their findings unveiled a dynamic atmosphere on WASP-121 b over time.

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The team's research suggested that the existence of massive weather fronts, storms, and cyclones on WASP-121 b is triggered by the substantial temperature difference between the star-facing side and the dark side of the exoplanet.

Additionally, an offset between the hottest region and the point closest to the star, along with variability in the chemical composition of the atmosphere, was detected through spectroscopy.

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WASP-121 b's close proximity to its parent star results in an incredibly short orbital period of 1.27 days. Daytime temperatures on the star-facing side reach a scorching 3,450 degrees Fahrenheit (2,150 degrees Kelvin).

(With inputs from agencies)