Scientists find strange clouds on 'fluffiest' exoplanet 525 light-years away

Among thousands of exoplanets discovered so far, scientists have now set their eyes on one particular alien planet named WASP-127b. Those observing the planets are startled by new mysteries that have arisen in the fluffy planet’s atmosphere. According to Space.com’s report, the new findings have recently been released by study leader Romain Allart at the 2021 meeting of the Europlanet Science Congress. This fluffy planet is a gaseous one and sports another name as ‘hot Saturn’. The exoplanet was discovered by the Hubble Space telescope in 2016 and is located more than 525 light-years away from Earth. Interestingly, this alien planet orbits its star in just four days and, as a result, bears 600 times higher radiation than Earth that takes its temperatures to 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,012 degrees Fahrenheit). 

The researchers revealed that extreme temperatures heat the planet to the extent that it swells up to 1.3 times the size of Jupiter, but just one-fifth of the mass. These features of WASP-127b made astronomers place it among the least dense and fluffiest exoplanet ever discovered to date. 

Scientists find sodium on the planet

The scientists reportedly found that the sodium element was present on the planet at a much lower altitude than expected. As per the study leader Romain Allart, iREx/Université de Montréal and Université de Genève, presence of sodium on the planet was not a surprise but its unexpected location was. In addition, abnormal water vapour signals were also strongly detected in infrared but went invisible at visible wavelengths of light, i.e. the sunlight. Allart reportedly stated that water vapour at lower levels is being screened by opaque clouds at visible wavelengths but becomes transparent in the infrared. 

However, Allart affirmed that the experts have not been able to determine the composition of the clouds but seemed sure that they do not contain Earth-like water droplets. Besides, he also expressed his confusion on tracing sodium at the most unexpected location. Details and conclusions about different areas in WASP-127b have resulted from data from Hubble and ESPRESSO Spectrograph at the Chile-based Very Large Telescope observatory. Researchers were reported that the planet continues to be a point of fascination as its information highlighted the importance of combining space and ground-based data.

Image: TWITTER/ @MARCUSWEBSTER