Record-Breaking Supersonic Wind Swirls Around Giant Exoplanet’s Equator

Learn about a planet that experiences winds a thousand times stronger than Earth’s.

By Paul Smaglik
Jan 22, 2025 9:00 PMJan 22, 2025 9:05 PM
Artist’s impression of supersonic winds on WASP-127b
This artist’s visualization of WASP-127b, a giant gas planet located about 520 light-years from Earth, shows its newly discovered supersonic jet winds that move around the planet’s equator. With a speed of 9 km per second (33 000 km/h), this is the fastest jet stream of its kind ever measured in the Universe. (Credit: ESO/L. Calçada)

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Prepare to be blown away: Astronomers have recorded the most powerful planetary wind thus far — a force that pummels a giant exoplanet with gales faster than the speed of sound.

The jet stream sweeps WASP-127b’s equator at over 20,000 miles per hour. That’s about 1,000 times more powerful than the gales that buffet Mt. Washington in New Hampshire — one of the windiest places on Earth. The exoplanet’s winds blow 18 times faster than those on Neptune, which has the strongest winds ever measured in the Solar System.

The discovery, made by using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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