Wasp-107b is referred to as the ''candy floss'' as it is much less dense than other giant gas planets.
In a groundbreaking discovery, NASA's James Webb space telescope has revealed a planet where specks of sand fall as rain, the Guardian reported. Though the planet has a similar water and cloud cycle to Earth, its clouds are made of sand and the clouds are made of silicate. This unique Jupiter-sized exoplanet, called Wasp-107b, is 200 light years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Wasp-107b is also often referred to as the ''candy floss'' as it is much less dense than other giant gas planets. Even though the planet is about the size of Jupiter, it is much lighter, with about the same mass as Neptune.
''In fact, this fluffy planet has one of the lowest densities we've ever seen. That allows us to really look very deeply into the atmosphere of that planet'', Prof Leen Decin, of the Catholic Institute (KU) Leuven and first author of the research told New Scientist.
Notably, a team of European astronomers used JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to detail the atmospheric composition of the planet. Researchers found water vapor, sulfur dioxide, and silicate sand clouds residing within the exoplanet's dynamic atmosphere. Their observations have been published in Nature.
Although clouds have been detected on exoplanets before, this is the first time their chemical composition has been analysed by astronomers.
This planet's atmosphere functions similarly to Earth's water cycle, but with sand instead of water. When silicate vapour rises from the hotter, lower levels of the atmosphere and cools, it forms microscopic grains of sand. Eventually, these sand clouds become dense enough to rain back down to the lower layers of the planet's atmosphere.
''The discovery of clouds of sand, water, and sulfur 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,'' Mr Decin added.
''It's a great target because it's really fluffy. It's one of the fluffiest planets out there and they're the ones we can get these big signals when we look at their atmosphere. We've been working on predictions for the past 10 years but nothing has quite prepared us for what we're actually seeing – both what we're finding out and the quality of the data. It's been really exciting,'' said Dr Joanna Barstow, a planetary scientist at Open University who is working on separate JWST measurements of the same planet.