'Out Of Science Fiction': First 3D Observations Of An Exoplanet's Atmosphere Reveal A Unique...

More details: Found here

Headlines:

Here are 10 current news headlines with a similar categorization: • "NASA's Perseverance Rover Discovers Evidence of Ancient Lake on Mars" (Space Exploration)

• "New Study Reveals Unique Microorganisms Thrive in Deep-Sea Vents" (Biological Science)

• "Breakthrough in Quantum Computing: Scientists Develop Quantum Processor" (Technology)

• "NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Captures Stunning Image of Galaxy in Early Universe" (Astronomy)

• "Scientists Discover New Species of Ancient Human in Indonesia" (Anthropology)

• "Researchers Create Artificial General Intelligence that Surpasses Human-Level Intelligence" (Artificial Intelligence)

• "New Species of Giant Squid Discovered in Deep-Sea Expedition" (Marine Biology)

• "European Space Agency's BepiColombo Mission Reaches Mercury's Orbit" (Space Exploration)

• "Scientists Develop New Method to Produce Clean Energy from Seawater" (Energy)

• "Discovery of Water on Mars Raises Possibilities for Human Settlement" (Space Exploration)

#news

Astronomers have peered through the atmosphere of a planet beyond the Solar System, mapping its 3D structure for the first time. By combining all four telescope units of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), they found powerful winds carrying chemical elements like iron and titanium, creating intricate weather patterns across the planet's atmosphere. The discovery opens the door for detailed studies of the chemical makeup and weather of other alien worlds.

"This planet's atmosphere behaves in ways that challenge our understanding of how weather works -- not just on Earth, but on all planets. It feels like something out of science fiction," says Julia Victoria Seidel, a researcher at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile and lead author of the study, published today in Nature.

The planet, WASP-121b (also known as Tylos), is some 900 light-years away in the constellation Puppis. It's an ultra-hot Jupiter, a gas giant orbiting its host star so closely that a year there lasts only about 30 Earth hours. Moreover, one side of the planet is scorching, as it is always facing the star, while the other side is much cooler.

The team has now probed deep inside Tylos's atmosphere and revealed distinct winds in separate layers, forming a map of the atmosphere's 3D structure. It's the first time astronomers have been able to study the atmosphere of a planet outside our Solar System in such depth and detail.

"The VLT enabled us to probe three different layers of the exoplanet's atmosphere in one fell swoop," says study co-author Leonardo A. dos Santos, an assistant astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, United States. The team tracked the movements of iron, sodium and hydrogen, which allowed them to trace winds in the deep, mid and shallow layers of the planet's atmosphere, respectively. "It's the kind of observation that is very challenging to do with space telescopes, highlighting the importance of ground-based observations of exoplanets," he adds.