James Webb telescope discovers changing water clouds on a frozen brown dwarf

Add ARY News on GoogleFollow on Google DiscoverImage: NASAAAResizeA planet about the size of Jupiter, only 7.5 light-years from Earth, has weather that looks surprisingly familiar. Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to spot fast-changing water clouds on WISE 0855, the coldest brown dwarf ever found.

A research team led by Brittany Miles at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory watched this cold object for 11 hours. By measuring its light every 15 minutes, they confirmed that water clouds on another world can get thicker and thinner over time.

The team recently shared their findings on the arXiv preprint server, and the results have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

The study found that two things shape WISE 0855’s changing atmosphere. First, high-altitude water clouds move around as the object spins. Second, heat from inside pushes gases like carbon monoxide and phosphine upward through convection, much like how hot liquid stirs in a boiling pot.

Earlier telescopes were not sensitive enough to separate these complex signals. The JWST’s advanced spectrograph allowed scientists to track small temperature changes and chemical shifts in real time.

Brown dwarfs are a special type of object in space. They are much bigger than planets but not big enough to become stars. WISE 0855 is extremely cold at minus 8 degrees Celsius, making it hard to tell if it is more like a star or a planet. Miles said that seeing this active weather shows that the same physical laws that shape gas giants like Jupiter also work on these lonely, drifting worlds.

Watching these changing skies gives astronomers important information to help understand gas giant planets throughout the galaxy. This discovery shows that active weather happens all over, and that even our nearest cosmic neighbors have complex and interesting skies.

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