Warwick: Winds of Rubies & Sapphires Strike Sky of Giant Planet

[bystander]

Winds of Rubies and Sapphires Strike Sky of Giant Planet
University of Warwick | 2016 Dec 12

[c]
Artist's impression of planet HAT-P-7b - Credit: Univ of Warwick/Mark Garlick[/c][hr][/hr]

Signs of powerful changing winds have been detected on a planet 16 times larger than Earth, over 1000 light years away – the first time ever that weather systems have been found on a gas giant outside our solar system - according to new research by the University of Warwick.

Dr David Armstrong in Warwick’s Astrophysics Group has discovered that the gas giant HAT-P-7b is affected by large scale changes in the strong winds moving across the planet, likely leading to catastrophic storms.

This discovery was made by monitoring the light being reflected from the atmosphere of HAT-P-7b, and identifying changes in this light, showing that the brightest point of the planet shifts its position.

This shift is caused by an equatorial jet with dramatically variable wind-speeds – at their fastest, pushing vast amounts of cloud across the planet.

The clouds themselves would be visually stunning – likely made of up corundum, the mineral which forms rubies and sapphires.

The planet could never be inhabitable, due to its likely violent weather systems, and unaccommodating temperatures. One side of the planet always faces the star, because it is tidally locked, and that side remains much hotter than the other – the day side average temperature on HAT-P-7 being 2860K. ...

Variability in the Atmosphere of the Hot Giant Planet HAT-P-7 b - David J. Armstrong et al

• Nature Astronomy 1:0004 (12 Dec 2016) DOI: 10.1038/s41550-016-0004
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1612.04225 > 13 Dec 2016

[bystander]

Variable Winds on Hot Giant Exoplanet Help Study of Magnetic Field
Planetary Science Institute | 2017 May 15

[img3="Magnetic Field Lines in the Atmosphere of a Hot Giant Exoplanet"]http://www.psi.edu/sites/default/files/ ... 0Proof.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Senior Scientist Tamara M. Rogers of the Planetary Science Institute has discovered that substantial variability in the winds on the hot giant exoplanet HAT-P-7b are due to magnetism, and used those measurements to develop a new method to constrain the magnetic field of such an object.

HAT-P-7b was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Mission in 2008. It is nearly 40 percent larger and nearly 80 percent more massive than Jupiter. It orbits its star every couple of days, and is so close that dayside temperature may be 2,200 degrees Kelvin (3,500 degrees Fahrenheit) with a night side 1,000 Kelvin (1,340 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler.

This strong day-night temperature difference drives strong eastward winds in the atmosphere and shifts the hottest temperature away from the point directly beneath the star on the dayside. However, this hot spot shifts significantly over time -- even ending up on the west side of the sub-stellar point. This means that the winds are also changing significantly.

“The extreme temperatures of HAT-P-7b ionizes alkali metals such as lithium, sodium, and potassium, which results in the coupling of the atmosphere to a deep-seated magnetic field. Magnetic forces are able to then disrupt the strong eastward winds, leading to variable and even oppositely directed winds,” Rogers said. ...

Constraints on the Magnetic Field Strengths of HAT-P-7 b and Other Hot Giant Exoplanets - Tamara M. Rogers

• Nature Astronomy 1:0131 (15 May 2017) DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0131
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1704.06271 > 20 Apr 2017 (v1), 24 Apr 2017 (v2)

[warmingwarmingwarming]

Winds of Rubies and Sapphires Strike Sky of Giant Planet
University of Warwick | 2016 Dec 12


The planet could never be inhabitable, due to its likely violent weather systems, and unaccommodating temperatures. One side of the planet always faces the star, because it is tidally locked, and that side remains much hotter than the other – the day side average temperature on HAT-P-7 being 2860K. ...

I don't know why statements like this are still being made by educated people. Even Mercury has water ice .. so could potentially harbor life.
http://www.space.com/27450-messenger-me ... hotos.html

Of course .. if the author of the statement meant "human habitation" he would almost certainly be right .. but definition of the word "habitable" includes: "the frigid Arctic is not habitable for amphibians and reptiles—or for humans, either, for that matter." Miriam Webster.

[neufer]

Winds of Rubies and Sapphires Strike Sky of Giant Planet
University of Warwick | 2016 Dec 12

The planet could never be inhabitable, due to its likely violent weather systems, and unaccommodating temperatures. One side of the planet always faces the star, because it is tidally locked, and that side remains much hotter than the other – the day side average temperature on HAT-P-7 being 2860K. ...

I don't know why statements like this are still being made by educated people.
Even Mercury has water ice .. so could potentially harbor life.
http://www.space.com/27450-messenger-me ... hotos.html

• Liquid water is necessary for "harboring life" as we know it.

[warmingwarmingwarming]

Winds of Rubies and Sapphires Strike Sky of Giant Planet
University of Warwick | 2016 Dec 12

The planet could never be inhabitable, due to its likely violent weather systems, and unaccommodating temperatures. One side of the planet always faces the star, because it is tidally locked, and that side remains much hotter than the other – the day side average temperature on HAT-P-7 being 2860K. ...

I don't know why statements like this are still being made by educated people.
Even Mercury has water ice .. so could potentially harbor life.
http://www.space.com/27450-messenger-me ... hotos.html

• Liquid water is necessary for "harboring life" as we know it.

Yes, but life as we know it includes bacteria and other microscopic creatures. In the transition zones, on Mercury, for instance, between the very cold and the very hot, below the surface almost certainly, liquid water probably exists in among grains of mineral. Bacteria, or other forms of life, could exist, even thrive there.
http://aem.asm.org/content/66/8/3214.full