Gas Giant

The James Webb Space Telescope has made the first direct analysis of clouds on a nearby alien world. These aren’t just made of water vapor but also sand, which would move around the planet much like Earth’s water cycle.

The James Webb Space Telescope has provided the most detailed look at an exoplanet atmosphere ever. Studying data from four instruments astronomers compiled a complete molecular and chemical profile of the planet, including signs of active chemistry.

Astronomers have captured the first clear images of a colossal moon-forming debris disk orbiting a distant alien planet. According to the authors of the new study, the disk has enough material to create three satellites the size of Earth’s Moon.

Scientists have recreated in the lab some of the wild weather that might be found on Jupiter and Saturn. Using extremely high pressures and laser shock waves, the researchers produced helium rain which has been hypothesized to fall on these planets.

WASP-107b was already a very weird exoplanet, with the density of cotton candy. On closer inspection, astronomers have now found that its density is even lower than previously thought, defying our current understanding of how gas giants even form.

Astronomers have discovered the intact, exposed core of a gas giant locked in a close orbit around a Sun-like star. The discovery will give astronomers a rare opportunity to probe the heart of an ancient alien world.

​Scientists may have discovered large amounts of water hidden deep beneath the surface of Jupiter’s famous Great Red Spot. The discovery, which was made using ground-based telescopes, opens up the possibility that extremophile lifeforms could exist in the atmosphere of the enigmatic gas giant.

According to a new study, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) is growing taller as the storm’s perimeter continues to shrink. The GRS is a colossal swirling storm that has been raging continuously on Jupiter’s cloud surface since its discovery in 1831.

Exoplanets are a constant source of surprise and wonder, and now astronomers have noticed something strange about a gas giant called WASP-19b. In the upper atmosphere of this “hot Jupiter” sits a layer of titanium oxide, which has flipped the usual atmospheric temperature structure on its head.

​A massive storm bigger than the Earth has been raging for centuries on Jupiter, and now Juno is swooping in for a closer look. It will come within a few thousand miles of the Great Red Spot, probing the storm to hopefully reveal some of its mysteries, and snap some stunning photos in the process.

Habitability is one of the main things we look for in exoplanets, but those that are completely and utterly uninhabitable still have plenty to teach us. NASA has just found a planet that we’re going to crown Least Likely To Host Life: KELT-9b, a blistering gas giant that’s hotter than most stars.

If the Stay Puft marshmallow man from Ghostbusters were a planet, it would probably be the newly discovered super gas giant, KELT 11b. The highly inflated planet is 40 percent larger than Jupiter, despite being only a fifth as massive as the largest planet in our solar system.