Warwick Team Maps HD 189733b's 5,400 mph Winds, Revealing First Exoplanet Weather System
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 1
Warwick Team Maps HD 189733b's 5,400 mph Winds, Revealing First Exoplanet Weather System
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 1
HD 189733b’s atmosphere was mapped with winds reaching 5,400 mph, giving astronomers what the University of Warwick team called the first direct weather map of an exoplanet.
2 km per second airflows were measured moving heat from the planet’s dayside to nightside on the hot Jupiter, where daytime temperatures approach 2,000 degrees.
63 light-years away, the planet appears deep cobalt blue, but the color comes from a hazy atmosphere with silicate-laced clouds rather than water.
Those extreme temperatures and winds imply horizontal glass rain, though that remains an inference from the measurements rather than a directly observed event.
HD 189733b has become a key test case for exoplanet studies, showing that Earth-like visual cues can mask radically hostile conditions.