This illustration conceptualizes the swirling clouds identified by the James Webb Space Telescope in the atmosphere of exoplanet VHS 1256 b. The planet is about 40 light-years away and orbits two stars that are locked in their own tight rotation.
Its clouds are constantly rising, mixing, and moving during its 22-hour day. Plus, they’re filled with silicate dust. Some clouds contain silicate grains as tiny as smoke particles. Other contain slightly larger flecks that are similar to small grains of sand. Researchers detected both brighter and darker cloud patches, indicating some clouds are lower and hotter or higher and cooler than others, respectively.
VHS 1256 b is about four times farther from its stars than Pluto is from our Sun. The planet completes a full orbit in about 10,000 years. Its cloud cover points to another fact: It’s quite young in astronomical terms – only 150 million years have passed since it formed and it will continue to change over billions of years. Over time, the planet will become colder, and its skies may transition from cloudy to clear.
This illustration is based on observations from Webb. The camera that is part of Webb’s Near Infrared Spectrograph’s integral field unit does not have the resolution to capture the planet in detail at this distance.
Credits
Illustration
NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | VHS 1256-1257 b (VHS 1256 B) |
| Object Description | Exoplanet |
| Constellation | Corvus |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
