Hubble detects jet stream on exoplanet
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028330
Ars Technica : The Hubble Space Telescope has seen temperature differentials on an exoplanet that suggests the planet’s atmosphere has a jet stream. WASP-43b is Jupiter sized and has a 19.5-hour orbit around a relatively small parent star. That proximity puts the planet in a category known as hot Jupiter because of the heating from the star. Hubble imaged the planet in the near-IR and saw an asymmetry in the temperature distribution on the planet as it orbited the star. The researchers suggest that a jet stream carrying warm air eastward from the side of the planet facing the Sun would account for the asymmetry. The planet has an otherwise significant temperature difference between the dayside and nightside, which helped make the asymmetry visible.
