WASP-96 is a G8-type star, located approximately 1140

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

in the constellation of

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

. It is known to host at least one

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

WASP-96b WASP-96b is a gas giant exoplanet. Its mass is 0.48 times that of Jupiter. It is 0.0453 AU from the class G star WASP-96, which it orbits every 3.4 days. It is about 1,140 light-years away from Earth, in the constellation Phoenix. It was disco ...

. It was discovered in 2013 by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP), utilising the

transit method Any planet is an extremely faint light source compared to its parent star. For example, a star like the Sun is about a billion times as bright as the reflected light from any of the planets orbiting it. In addition to the intrinsic difficulty o ...

. In July 2022, NASA announced that a spectrum of the planet would be featured in the initial science release from the

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Spa ...

Planetary system

Observations from the

show that WASP-96b displays a distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze in its

spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors i ...

, in contrast to what was previously believed to be an entirely cloudless

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

References

{{Phoenix (constellation) Phoenix (constellation) G-type main-sequence stars Planetary systems with one confirmed planet J00041112-4721382

247 __NOTOC__ Year 247 (Roman numerals, CCXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Severus (or, less frequent ...

160148385 96

Planetary system

See also

References