Wasp-107b

18.11.2023

Wasp-107b , Daily Current Affairs , RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

Why in the news?

Recently, NASA's James Webb Telescope has discovered a new exoplanet named Wasp-107b.

Important points:

• Atmospheric composition has been discovered in Wasp-107b, including water vapor, sulfur dioxide, and clouds of silicate sand.
• The team studying WASP-107-b made their observations using the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).
• This unprecedented study is the first time astronomers have analyzed the composition of clouds on an exoplanet.

About Wasp-107B:

• It is a newly discovered exoplanet, first discovered in 2017.
• This planet, located 200 light years away in the constellation Virgo, also exhibits a water cycle similar to Earth.
• WASP-107b has a mass of 30.5 Earths, and takes only six days to orbit its home star.
• It is slightly cooler and less massive than our Sun.
• Wasp-107b orbits the Sun but exists beyond our solar system. It is called "candy floss".
  • It is so called "candy floss" because it is much less dense than other gas giant planets.
• Its size is like Jupiter but its mass is like Neptune.
  • WASP-107b has only 12% the mass of Jupiter.
• The planet's low density allowed astronomers to see 50 times deeper into the planet's atmosphere than observations obtained for more dense planets such as Jupiter.
• The exoplanet is extremely hot (the outer atmosphere exceeds 900 degrees Fahrenheit).

A water cycle similar to that of Earth:

• Wasp-107b displays a water cycle similar to Earth's, but instead of water droplets, the planet 'rains sand'.
• Although the planet's water and cloud cycles are similar to Earth's, its clouds are composed of sand and clouds are composed of silicates.
• The falling grains are, in fact, silicate vapors rising from lower atmospheric levels.
• Similar to Earth's water cycle, these sand clouds return to lower planetary atmospheric levels.

Giant gas planet:

• Gas giants are large planets composed mostly of gases such as hydrogen and helium with relatively small rocky cores.
• Our solar system's gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – together form a group known as the Jovian planets (Jupiter-like).
• The Solar System's four gas giants reside farthest from the Sun, beyond the orbits of Mars and the asteroid belt. Therefore they are also called outer planets.
• All the outer planets have numerous moons. They all also have planetary rings, made of dust and other small particles that surround the planet in a thin plane.