A team of astronomers has been studying one particular enigmatic WASP-107b with JWST and making incredible discoveries about its atmosphere. Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars. WASP-107b was discovered by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) in 2017.

It is a gaseous exoplanet with a mass similar to Neptune but a diameter closer to Jupiter, orbiting a star in the constellation Virgo (WASP107) located 200 light-years away. The planet’s mass and size mean that its atmosphere is somewhat “puffy” and less dense than that of the planets in our solar system.

A team of astronomers recently examined WASP107b (the second planet orbiting around WASP107) using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) at JWST; this allowed them to look further and deeper than usual, thanks to its thin, fluffy atmosphere, revealing emerging truths. new atmospheric details. The team probed the atmosphere using MIRI and found signs of water vapor, sulfur dioxide and a “sand” cloud, but surprisingly no signs of methane.

The observations provided a new perspective on the atmospheres of exoplanets. The “puffy” nature of the atmosphere allowed further penetration of photons from the parent star WASP107, leading to the formation of sulfur dioxide, which was completely unexpected.

Clouds were also discovered, but unlike clouds on Earth, they were composed of small particles of silicate, the main component of sand!

On Earth, water usually freezes at low temperatures, but in gas giants where temperatures are close to 1000 degrees, silicate particles can freeze, often resulting in clouds! The temperature in WASP107b is about 500 degrees, and at these temperatures clouds of silicate particles produce rain, which falls and evaporates at lower levels, then rises again and turns into clouds.

A surprising discovery, or rather something undiscovered, was the absence of methane. Methane was expected, but its absence indicates that the atmosphere is warmer than expected. Studies of WASP107b have finally begun to reveal the diversity of exoplanet atmospheres and the complexity of chemical interactions on alien worlds. But this research would not be possible without JWST, and together with MIRI we are beginning to transform our understanding of planetary evolution. Source