Film & Animation

Super-Jupiter: Hot and Cloudy Weather

The massive planet 2M1207b is four times the mass of Jupiter and orbits a brown dwarf (of course named 2M1207). Using the near infrared camera (Wide Field Camera 3 or WFC3) on Hubble Space Telescope, scientists measured the rotation of this cloudy planet through direct imaging. This is the first time such a measurement has been done. The clouds are patchy but colorless and probably contain silicates (vaporized rock). The atmosphere is very hot, around 2400 degrees F (1315 C).... Read More