Bizarre giant ‘candy floss’ planet is covered in clouds of sand

An artist’s impression of WASP-107b and its parent star (Picture: SWNS)

A famously ‘fluffy’ planet has been found to have clouds of sand in its atmosphere.

WASP-107b is a ‘super-Neptune’ gas planet orbiting the star WASP-107 and lying 211 light-years from Earth.

Discovered in 2017, astronomers quickly discovered its ‘candy floss’ qualities. Although a massive exoplanet, bigger than 30 Earths, it is surprisingly lightweight – or fluffy.

The fluffiness of the exoplanet enables astronomers to look roughly 50 times deeper into its atmosphere compared to the depth of exploration achieved for a solar-system giant like Jupiter.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of European astronomers used recent observations to better understand its cotton candy atmosphere and found the planet is even more strange than first thought, discovering not only water vapour and sulphur dioxide, but silicate sand clouds.

The particles reside within a ‘dynamic’ atmosphere, say scientists.

However, there was no sign of the greenhouse gas methane, which the team says hints at a potentially warm interior.

They said the discovery of sulphur dioxide – known for the odour of burnt matches – was a major surprise.

Even though its host star emits a relatively small fraction of high-energy photons due to its cooler nature, the photons can reach deep into the planet’s atmosphere. That enables the chemical reactions required to produce sulphur dioxide to occur.

The team explained that high-altitude clouds partially obscure the water vapour and sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere.

While clouds have been inferred on other exoplanets, it marks the first instance where astronomers can definitively identify their chemical composition.

The astronomers said the clouds consist of small silicate particles, a familiar substance for humans found in many parts of the world as the primary constituent of sand.

Astronomers worldwide are harnessing the advanced capabilities of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) aboard the JWST to conduct ground-breaking observations of exoplanets – those orbiting stars other than our own Sun.

‘JWST is revolutionising exoplanet characterisation, providing unprecedented insights at remarkable speed,’ said lead author Professor Leen Decin, of KU Leuven in Belgium.

‘The discovery of clouds of sand, water, and sulphur dioxide on this fluffy exoplanet by JWST’s MIRI instrument is a pivotal milestone.

‘It reshapes our understanding of planetary formation and evolution, shedding new light on our own Solar System.’

The study is published in the journal Nature.

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As far as planets go, it’s a very weird one.