tidally locked Archives

This artist’s concept shows what the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-43 b could look like. WASP-43 b is a Jupiter-sized planet that orbits a star roughly 280 light-years away, in the constellation Sextans. The planet orbits at a distance of about 0.014 AU (1.3 million miles), completing one circuit in about 19.5 hours. Because it is so close to its star, WASP-43 b is probably tidally locked: its rotation rate and orbital period are the same, such that one side faces the star at all times. -- ESA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release

Webb Maps Weather On Hot Gas-giant Exoplanet WASP-43b

by Keith CowingApril 30, 2024April 30, 2024

An international team of researchers has successfully used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b.

Time mean thermodynamic and circulation regime in our simulations. (a–d) Surface temperature in K overlaid by streamlines of the horizontal wind at ≈8 km above the surface. (e–h) Top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation in W m−2 . (i–l) Zonal mean of the eastward wind (orange contours, m s−1 ) overlaid by the day-side upward wind (red and blue contours, cm s−1 ). -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

The Impact Of The Explicit Representation Of Convection On The Climate Of A Tidally Locked Planet In Global Stretched-mesh Simulations

by Keith CowingMarch 3, 2024March 3, 2024

Convective processes are crucial in shaping exoplanetary atmospheres but are computationally expensive to simulate directly.

HD 63433d is the third planet found in orbit around a star called HD 63433.

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Earth-sized Planet HD 63433d Discovered In Our Solar Backyard

by Keith CowingJanuary 13, 2024January 13, 2024

A team of astronomers have discovered a planet closer and younger than any other Earth-sized world yet identified. It’s a remarkably hot world whose proximity to our own planet and […]

Like Kepler-10 b, illustrated above, the exoplanet HD 63433 d is a small, rocky planet in a tight orbit of its star. HD 63433 d is the smallest confirmed exoplanet younger than 500 million years old. It's also the closest discovered Earth-sized planet this young, at about 400 million years old. NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Earth-sized Planet HD 63433 d Has A Lava Hemisphere

by Keith CowingJanuary 12, 2024January 12, 2024

The discovery: In a system with two known planets, astronomers spotted something new: a small object transiting across the Sun-sized star. This turned out to be another planet: extra hot […]

Effect of space weathering on the single scattering albedo of basalt (left column), and resulting thermal phase curves (right column). Top row shows the effect of space weathering via the formation of nanophase metallic iron particles (npFe), bottom row shows the effect of space weathering via graphite. Percentages show the added volume fraction of darkening material. -- astro-ph.EP

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

Super-Earth LHS3844b Is Tidally Locked

by Keith CowingOctober 4, 2023October 4, 2023

Short period exoplanets on circular orbits are thought to be tidally locked into synchronous rotation. If tidally locked, these planets must possess permanent day- and nightsides, with extreme irradiation on […]

LP 791-18 d, shown here in an artist’s concept, is an Earth-size world about 90 light-years away. The gravitational tug from a more massive planet in the system, shown as a blue disk in the background, may result in internal heating and volcanic eruptions – as much as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most geologically active body in the solar system. Astronomers discovered and studied the planet using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) along with many other observatories. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KRBwyle)

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

A Potentially Volcano-Covered Earth-Size World Discovered

by Keith CowingMay 17, 2023April 14, 2024

Astronomers have discovered an Earth-size exoplanet, or world beyond our solar system, that may be carpeted with volcanoes. Called LP 791-18 d, the planet could undergo volcanic outbursts as often […]

Climatic elements on three planets. (a)–(c) Temporal- and zonal-mean temperature (color shading) and zonal-mean zonal winds (contour lines) on Earth, on the rapidly rotating tidally locked terrestrial planet, and on the slowly rotating tidally locked terrestrial planet; (d)–(f) same as (a)–(c) but for deviations of temporal- and zonal-mean geopotential height from the global means (color shading), and mass stream functions (contour lines, in units of 1010 kg s−1 ). Note that the ranges of color bars in panels (d), (e), and (f) are different. Panels (a), (b), (d) and (e) are shown in the standard coordinates, and (c) and (f) are shown in the tidally locked coordinates. SP and AP are the substellar point and the antistellar point, respectively. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones

Lorenz Energy Cycle: Another Way to Understand the Atmospheric Circulation on Tidally Locked Terrestrial Planets

by Keith CowingApril 24, 2023April 27, 2023

In this study, we employ and modify the Lorenz energy cycle (LEC) framework as another way to understand the atmospheric circulation on tidally locked terrestrial planets.

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Space Weather & Heliophysics, TRAPPIST-1

3D Modelling Of The Impact Of Stellar Activity On Tidally Locked Terrestrial Exoplanets: Atmospheric Composition And Habitability

by Keith CowingOctober 25, 2022October 25, 2022

Stellar flares present challenges to the potential habitability of terrestrial planets orbiting M dwarf stars through inducing changes in the atmospheric composition and irradiating the planet’s surface in large amounts […]

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, Proxima Centauri

Atmospheric Convection Plays A Key Role In The Climate Of Tidally-locked Terrestrial Exoplanets: Insights From High-resolution Simulations

by Keith CowingApril 7, 2020December 3, 2022

Using a 3D general circulation model (GCM), we investigate the sensitivity of the climate of tidally-locked Earth-like exoplanets, Trappist-1e and Proxima Centauri b, to the choice of a convection parameterization. […]