The most powerful atmospheric flows have been discovered on the exoplanet WASP-127b, exceeding in speed all previously known planetary winds. The speed of air masses at the equator of the planet reaches a colossal 33 thousand kilometers per hour, snob.ru reports with reference to the European Southern Observatory.

The gas giant WASP-127b, discovered by astronomers in 2016, is located at a distance of more than 500 light years from Earth. Despite the fact that the planet is larger than Jupiter, its density is much lower. Scientists have found that atmospheric flows on WASP-127b move almost six times faster than the rotation speed of the planet itself.

According to the head of the study, Lisa Nortmann, the speed of about 9 km / s (or 33 thousand km / h) on WASP-127b is the fastest wind ever measured in a jet stream that moves around the planet. By comparison, the most powerful winds in our solar system, observed on Neptune, reach only 1,800 kilometers per hour.

The discovery was made possible thanks to observations using the CRIRES+ spectrograph installed on the Very Large Telescope in Chile. The researchers studied the light from the star passing through the atmosphere of WASP-127b, which allowed them to not only determine its composition, but also detect these incredible supersonic winds.