WASP-127b

Why in News?

Recently, the astronomers have detected winds howling on large gaseous planet, WASP-127b.

Discovered in – 2016.
Located in – Milky Way galaxy approximately 520 lightyears from the earth in a tight orbit around a star.
WASP-127b – It is a gas giant exoplanet, which means that it has no rocky or solid surface beneath its atmospheric layers.

An Exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system. Most of them orbit other stars, but some free-floating exoplanets, called Rogue Planets.

Instead, below the observed atmosphere lies gas that becomes denser and more pressurized the deeper one goes into the planet.
Type – Hot Jupiter, that orbits very close to its host star.
Diameter – About 30% larger than Jupiter.
Mass – Only 16% (0.1647) of Jupiters, making it one of the puffiest planets ever observed.
Orbital Period – It takes 4.2 days to complete 1 orbit of its star.
Position – One side of WASP-127b faces its star, the day side.
The other side always faces away, the night side.
Temperature – 2,060 degrees Fahrenheit, its polar regions less hot than the rest.
Composition – Mainly of hydrogen and helium.

Research Findings

The supersonic jet-stream winds circling WASP-127b at about 33,000 km per hour.

Speed – The wind circling at its equator are the fastest of their kind on any known planet.

Its atmosphere also contains traces of more complex molecules such as carbon monoxide and water.
The primary source of energy for these winds is the intense irradiation from the host star.
Higher atmospheric wind speeds have been detected on 2 other exoplanets, in winds from their day side to night side.

References