Space & Astronomy

Distant planet has 5400-mile-per-hour winds

By T.K. Randall
November 15, 2015 ·  9 comments

An artist's impression of what HD 189733b might look like. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Kornmesser Located at a distance of 63 light years from the Earth, the gas giant HD 189733b has turned out to be a violent and chaotic world with extreme winds blowing at thousands of miles per hour.

"Whilst we have previously known of wind on exoplanets, we have never before been able to directly measure and map a weather system," said astrophysicist Tom Louden.To study the planet's weather, scientists used a combination of spectroscopy and the Doppler Effect to measure the relative amounts of sodium absorption in different parts of its atmosphere.

"As we develop the technique further we will be able to study wind flows in increasing detail and make weather maps of smaller planets," said co-author Peter Wheatley.

"Ultimately this technique will allow us to image the weather systems on Earth-like planets."

Source: IB Times | Comments (9)

Tags: Extrasolar, Planet