WASP-107b is tidally locked, consistently showing the same face to its star, resulting in a permanent day side and night side, which makes it an ideal subject for atmospheric research.

The James Webb Space Telescope captured detailed snapshots that provided insights into the atmospheric gases, cloud structures, and overall chemistry of WASP-107b.

Discovered in 2017, WASP-107b is a gas giant that orbits a cooler and less massive star than our Sun and has a mass similar to Neptune but a size comparable to Jupiter.

Modeling suggests that local enhancements of CO2 in the atmosphere may be due to cold traps that allow for CO2 adsorption, contributing to the planet's atmospheric dynamics.

Astronomers have identified atmospheric asymmetry in the exoplanet WASP-107b, utilizing NASA's James Webb Space Telescope for this groundbreaking observation.

Lead author Matthew Murphy from the University of Arizona emphasized the advantages of space observations over ground-based methods in studying such phenomena.

Co-author Thomas Beatty highlighted the significance of directly observing these atmospheric asymmetries through transmission spectroscopy from space.

Previous models suggested that exoplanets like WASP-107b should not exhibit atmospheric asymmetry, making these new findings particularly significant.

The atmospheric temperature of WASP-107b reaches around 890 degrees Fahrenheit, placing it between the cooler planets in our solar system and the hottest known exoplanets.

The findings regarding WASP-107b's atmosphere were published in the journal Nature Astronomy on September 24, 2024.

This discovery adds to the understanding of how exoplanets maintain their unique structures and climates, with further studies planned to explore the causes of the observed atmospheric asymmetry.

The study also raises questions about the origins of CO2 in the atmosphere, which could stem from the radiolysis of CO2 precursors or sputtering from H2O ice.