James Webb maps first daily weather cycle on an exoplanet

James Webb data shows that morning clouds of vaporized rock vanish by sunset on WASP-94A b, a hot Jupiter 700 light-years away. Johns Hopkins astronomers mapped the first daily weather cycle ever seen on an exoplanet.

Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University used the James Webb Space Telescope to map the first daily weather cycle ever observed on a planet outside our solar system. WASP-94A b is a hot Jupiter about 700 light-years away, tidally locked to its star. Webb found thick clouds of magnesium silicate on its morning side that get blown into the dayside heat and evaporate before evening. The discovery also reveals a long-standing error in how exoplanet atmospheres have been read for years.

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