When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn commission. An illustration of a gas giant exoplanet evolving into a hot Jupiter. | Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva There’s more to a distant gas giant planet than meets the eye. Astronomers have discovered that an extrasolar planet, or “exoplanet,” not… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more. Astronomers have detected an exoplanet with an extremely elongated orbit and drastic temperature changes that could be evolving into another kind of world. The exoplanet, named TIC 241249530 b, orbits a star about 1,100 light-years… Read More »
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered that one of the closest “hot Jupiter” planets to Earth smells like rotten eggs. The planet already has a bad reputation for deadly glass rain, extreme temperatures, and sideways winds of 5,000 mph (8,046 kph), but this discovery makes this world seem even less friendly.… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more. A Jupiter-sized exoplanet has long intrigued astronomers for its scorching temperatures, screaming winds, and glassy sidereal rain. Now, data from the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed another intriguing feature of the planet, known as… Read More »
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) produced a weather report for a distant planet. The powerful space telescope predicts extreme wind speeds, extremely hot temperatures and shrouds of rock clouds for the world called Wasp-43b. So the term extrasolar planet, or “exoplanet,” shows just how weird alien planets outside the solar system can be. WASP-43b… Read More »
There are many words that can be used to describe WASP-76b: hellish, scorching, turbulent, chaotic, and even violent. This is a planet outside the solar system that sits so close to its star that it gets hot enough to vaporize lead. So, as you can imagine, “glorious” wasn’t one of those words until now. This… Read More »