Webb Confirms Temperature Difference between Eternal Morning and Evening on WASP-39b
NASA Space Technology Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have obtained and analyzed morning and evening transmission spectra of WASP-39b, a hot-Saturn exoplanet orbiting a star some 700 light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. The spectra are best explained by models in which the evening terminator is hotter than the morning terminator by 177 K.This illustration shows what WASP-39b could look like, based on the current understanding of the planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Olmsted, STScI.WASP-39b is a hot gas giant that orbits the G7-type star WASP-39 with a period of 4.1 days.First discovered in 2011, the alien world has approximately the same mass as Saturn but is 50% larger.The planet’s extreme puffiness is related in part to its high temperature (about 900 degrees Celsius,...
