This distant planet has wild weather and gemstone clouds
About this episode
This episode discusses discoveries made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope, focusing on a distant exoplanet with unusual weather patterns.
For many astronomers and astrophysicists there are two distinct, important periods: before the James Webb Space Telescope – and after. It has powered many scientific discoveries since it came online, including two at the heart of this episode: insights into one of Neptune’s moons and a “hot Jupiter” exoplanet orbiting another star. This exoplanet has a strange weather system with high winds and cloud coverage only on one side of the planet. Fill in some of the scientific gaps about our solar system and the universe beyond with us. Interested in more space science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org . Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
People in this episode
Host: Short Wave
Topics covered
- space science
- exoplanets
- astronomy
- weather systems
- James Webb Space Telescope
Keywords
- Neptune
- hot Jupiter
- cloud coverage
- high winds
- astronomy
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NPR
Products: James Webb Space Telescope
Places: Neptune, solar system, universe
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