Trailblazing technique uncovers real shape of scorching-hot exoplanet atmospheres (IMAGE)
Caption
The shape of WASP-17b’s atmosphere mapped using transmission strings. The planet has a broad banded jet around the equator with vast wind speeds which transport material and heat from the permanently irradiated dayside to the permanently shadowed nightside. The atmosphere over the equator of the evening limb (left) is hot as it is transported from the dayside of the planet, while the atmosphere on the right has cooled as it traversed the nightside and passes back to the dayside via the morning limb. Using transmission strings Dr Alderson and her team measured the shape of this transmitting limb as a function of angle across the poles of the planet for the first time.
Credit
Engine House and Hannah Wakeford
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