Scientists generate first map of clouds on an exoplanet
On the exoplanet Kepler 7b, the weather is highly predictable, an international team of scientists has found: On any given day, the exoplanet, which orbits a star nearly 1,000 light-years from Earth, is heavily overcast on one side, while the other side likely enjoys clear, cloudless weather. The new work, by researchers from MIT and other institutions, is the first mapping of the distribution of clouds on an exoplanet. The scientists observed that one of Kepler 7b’s hemispheres is blanketed with a dense layer of clouds — far denser than any found on Earth, and so thick that it reflects a significant portion of its host star’s incoming light. This shield of clouds makes the planet cooler than others of its type, creating an atmosphere that encourages further cloud formation. The team generated a low-resolution map of the planet’s clouds using optical data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. The researchers...