NASA James Webb Space Telescope maps extreme weather cycle on exoplanet WASP-94A b

A recent study uses the NASA James Webb Space Telescope to observe WASP-94A b, an exoplanet nearly 700 light-years away. The scientists observed decipher weather patterns on the exoplanet and report the first direct measurement of such an extreme weather cycle on an exoplanet.

WASP-94A b and JWST Weather Observation:

Dimension	Key Details
Celestial Body	WASP-94A b is an exoplanet and is described as a gas giant with scorching atmospheric temperatures.
Exoplanet	An exoplanet is any planet that exists outside the Solar System and orbits other stars, orbits binary star systems, or drifts freely through the cosmos as a rogue planet.
Category	WASP-94A b belongs to the category of hot Jupiters.
Distance	WASP-94A b is nearly 700 light-years away.
Size and Mass	WASP-94A b is almost twice as large as Jupiter and has only half the mass of Jupiter.
Orbit	WASP-94A b orbits very close to its parent star and takes 4 days to complete one revolution.
Tidal Locking	WASP-94A b has a tidally locked orbit, in which rotation is synchronised with revolution and the same side always faces the host star.
Weather System	WASP-94A b shows cloudy mornings and clear evenings. The morning limb is covered by mineral/silicate clouds, while the hotter evening limb has clearer skies.
Cloud Movement	The clouds likely form on the cooler night/morning side and evaporate as atmospheric circulation carries them toward the hotter dayside/evening limb.
Temperature Conditions	The planet has extreme temperature contrasts between its cooler morning/night-side regions and hotter day/evening-side regions, but the nightside is not close to absolute zero.
Temperature Conditions	The dayside has rock-melting temperatures, while the nightside remains pitch-dark and frozen, dipping close to absolute zero.
Detection Method	JWST uses spectroscopy, in which light is split into its various wavelengths and the intensity of each wavelength is measured.
Atmospheric Detection	An atmosphere absorbs some light and creates a gap in the set of wavelengths arriving at the spectrometer.
Current Finding	The study has reported the first direct measurement of such an extreme weather cycle on an exoplanet.