New observations of exoplanet WASP-127b more than 500 light-years from Earth have revealed surprising details about the behavior of its atmosphere. This planet has already become a storehouse of many discoveries in the planetology of other worlds, and each time it continues to reveal more and more new details. In particular, scientists were able to determine the speed of air flows at the equator of WASP-127b. It turned out to be huge – up to 33,000 km/h, but there is an explanation for this.
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The WASP-127B exoplanet is slightly larger than Jupiter, but its mass is only 16 % of the mass of this gas giant from our solar system. Thus, the density of the distant exoplanet barely exceeds the density of cotton wool. This forces scientists to invent exotic mechanisms for the formation of such worlds – large and loose, which is difficult to explain from the examples that we observe in our system and can withdraw from theories. In addition, the high speed of air flows, measured in the process of observing the WASP-127B, can serve as the missing part of the puzzle that will open the look at the full picture of the formation of such planets.
As for the discovery itself, a team of scientists observed WASP-127b using a spectrometer on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Focusing on the spectral lines of carbon dioxide and water, the researchers discovered two peaks: one coming towards us from one side of the planet, and the other on the opposite side, moving away from us. Calculations have shown that this is a super-reactive movement of gases in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, the speed of which lies in the range of 7.5–7.9 km/s.
The data obtained turned out to be multiples greater than anything recorded in this area in the entire history of observations. On Earth, the record wind speed was recorded in 1996 on the Australian island of Barrow. It reached 407 km/h. The highest speed of air flows was observed on Neptune. There it reaches 1770 km/h. But compared to the wind on WASP-127b, everything previous is barely a breeze. Gases in the atmosphere of this exoplanet fly around it in a few hours.
The high speed of air flows on the WASP-127B can be explained by its proximity to the star. The planet makes one revolution around it for 4.2 earthly days. She is in the tidal seizure of the star and is all the time turned to her with one side. This creates a huge temperature difference between an eternally lit and eternally dark side. On the daytime side of the WASP-127B, the temperature exceeds 1000 ℃. The temperature difference leads to the acceleration of air flows in the atmosphere of exoplanets. Nevertheless, the processes in the atmosphere of the WASP-127B are somewhat reminiscent of earthly and amazed and analyzed, which scientists will devote future observations.