NASA's Webb Telescope Capable Of Mapping Weather On Exoplanets 280 Years Of Light

Illustration of the WASP-43 b exoplanet (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA Not long ago, NASA revealed that the international research team succeeded in mapping the weather on exoplanets. This weather mapping was carried out using the James Webb Space Telescope data. Research was carried out on exoplanets with hot temperatures, namely WASP-43 b. The planet is Jupiter-sized and consists of hydrogen and helium. Interestingly, the planet is very hot when compared to planets in our solar system. Stars of the planet are not as hot as the Sun and its size is much smaller. In addition, the orbiting distance is equivalent to 1/25 distances between the planet Mercury and the Sun so that one side continues to turn on, while the other side is permanently dark. That is, each side has a permanent day and night. Although the night side does not receive direct radiation from the Sun, this side has a very strong wind and brings heat from the day side of the day. These hot winds originate in the East direction. Researchers briefly used MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) Webb to measure the light on the planet. Taylor Bell, the lead researcher of the study, said that he and his colleagues managed to create a rough map on the temperature of WASP-43 b. "By observing the entire orbit, we were able to calculate the temperature of the different sides of the planet as they rotated (circling its parent star), "Bell said. From there, we could create a coarse map of the temperature throughout the planet.'

The measurement results show that the day has a fairly hot temperature, namely 1,250 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the temperature on the night side reaches 600 degrees Celsius. These findings suggest that the temperature at night is also very hot for humans. Meanwhile, other data from MIR shows that the WASP-43 b atmosphere is deficient in methane, both on the day and at night. The lack of methane proves that the wind is moving very fast until chemical reactions are difficult to occur. The fact that we don't see methane tells us that WASP-43b definitely has wind speeds that reach 5,000 miles per hour,'' explained Joanna Barstow's researcher. "There is not enough time for the chemical reaction expected to produce the amount of methane that can be detected at night."