Astrophysicists find unique "hot Jupiter" planet without clouds

A unique exoplanet without clouds or haze was found by astrophysicists from Harvard and Smithsonian.

Credit: M. Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
  • Astronomers from Harvard and Smithsonian find a very rare "hot Jupiter" exoplanet without clouds or haze.
  • Such planets were formed differently from others and offer unique research opportunities.
  • Only one other such exoplanet was found previously.
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Jupiter’s intense radiation makes its moon Europa glow

Using a laboratory model, scientists get a nice Jovian surprise.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
  • Europa is continually bombarded by radiation from Jupiter.
  • According to new research, that radiation may make the moon glow.
  • The colors of the glow may help scientist identify Europa's compounds.
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    NASA detects unexpected lightning storms in Jupiter's upper atmosphere

    Some of the most extreme weather in the Solar System just got stranger.

    NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt
    • The Juno space probe orbiting Jupiter has observed lightning at impossibly high points in the Jovian atmosphere.
    • The findings, combined with other atmopsheric data, led to the creation of a new model of the atmosphere.
    • The findings answer a few questions about Jupiter, but create many more.
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    Astronomers find a planet so hot it's streaming metals into space

    This exoplanet is 10 times hotter than any world we measured and shaped like a football.

    NASA/ESA/J. Olmsted/STScI
    • Astronomers study the exoplanet planet WASP-121b that's known as a "hot Jupiter."
    • The planet is so hot, metals like iron and magnesium stream off its surface.
    • The find is the latest accomplishment using the Hubble Space Telescope.
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    A new theory explains Jupiter’s perplexing origin

    A new computer model solves a pair of Jovian riddles.

    (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill)
    • Astronomers have wondered how a gas giant like Jupiter could sit in the middle of our solar system's planets.
    • Also unexplained has been the pair of asteroid clusters in front of and behind Jupiter in its orbit.
    • Putting the two questions together revealed the answer to both.
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