In a first, astronomers detect strong winds on an exoplanet
Since the first exoplanet — a planet outside our solar system — was discovered in 1995, more than 460 others have been found. While astronomers have been able to measure the size, orbital characteristics, and even some of the molecules that make up the atmospheres of some exoplanets, many mysteries about their formation and evolution remain. A team of astronomers, including a researcher from MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, has become the first to measure wind in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. By detecting heavy winds on HD209458b, a huge exoplanet located 150 light years away that is slightly more than half the mass of Jupiter, the researchers could then measure the movement of the planet as it orbited its host star — also another first for exoplanetary research.The work, which is detailed in a paper published June 24 in Nature, will guide future research on exoplanets,...