Cloud System Mapped on Distant Planet

After three years of observing a distant planetary system, NASA scientists have created the first cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system.

The map is of a scorching gaseous planet known as Kepler-7b, was made by the Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes. Orbiting close to its sun, the world on Kepler-7b is hellish, with average temperatures as high as 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The cloud mapping indicates the world has high clouds in the west, and clear skies in the east.

Previously, the space telescopes had collected data to compile temperature maps of other planets, but the cloud map of Kepler-7b offers the first look at the cloud structure of a distant world.

"By observing this planet with Spitzer and Kepler for more than three years, we were able to produce a very low-resolution 'map' of this giant, gaseous planet," said Brice-Olivier Demory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We wouldn't expect to see oceans or continents on this type of world, but we detected a clear, reflective signature that we interpreted as clouds."

This summer the Kepler telescope suffered an irreversible mechanical failure and is no longer in the planet-hunting game, but Kepler-7b was one of the first planets the telescope spotted. Kepler's observations of 7b revealed a bright spot in the planet's western hemisphere, but it was uncertain whether the spot was generated by heat or clouds. With supporting analysis from the Spitzer telescope, it was determined that the planet, despite being closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun, was too cool to create the sort of white spot in the hemisphere that Kepler observed.

"Kepler-7b reflects much more light than most giant planets we've found, which we attribute to clouds in the upper atmosphere," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Unlike those on Earth, the cloud patterns on this planet do not seem to change much over time -- it has a remarkably stable climate."

The telescopes' Kepler-7b observations also revealed the gassy planet is one of the puffiest known. If it could somehow be placed in a cup of water, it would float.

The planet was also found to orbit its star at the quick pace of just five days.

A scientific paper on the observations has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.