Extreme Supersonic Winds Raging on WASP-127b | ESO

Extreme Supersonic Winds Raging on WASP-127b | ESO

Astronomers have measured supersonic jet winds on WASP-127b, a giant gas planet located about 520 light-years from Earth. It is the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured in the Universe with speeds up to 9 km per second. The team mapped the weather of WASP-127b using the CRIRES+ instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT).

WASP-127 b orbits a G-type star. Its mass is 0.1647 Jupiters, it takes 4.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0484 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2016.

Science paper: "CRIRES+ transmission spectroscopy of WASP-127b. Detection of the resolved signatures of a supersonic equatorial jet and cool poles in a hot planet":
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2502/eso2502a.pdf

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner
Editing: Angelos Tsaousis
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida
Written by: Alejandro Izquierdo Lopez , Hanna Huysegoms
Footage and photos: ESO / Luis Calçada, Angelos Tsaousis, Cristoph Malin, Babak Tafreshi
Scientific consultant: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova
Release Date: Jan. 21, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Exoplanets #Exoplanet #WASP127b #ExoplanetAtmosphere #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #CRIRES #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education