WASP-33b is an inhospitable, Jupiter sized world orbiting uncomfortably close to its parent star. But a recent discovery by researchers at the University of Cambridge shows it has a surprisingly Earth-like quality: a stratosphere.
Like Earth's stratosphere, the one on WASP-33b runs hot in its top layers and cooler in its bottom layers. This gives the planet a sort of heat shielding or "sunscreen" layer, as the researchers are calling it. Observations from Hubble show that the likely culprit at work here is titanium oxide. At the surface of the stratosphere, temperatures are just shy of 6000 degrees Fahrenheit. Below, temperatures are a balmier 3000 degrees.
It's the first confirmation of a stratosphere on a planet outside our solar system, offering up early understandings into the composition of exoplanets, specifically how "Hot Jupiters" like WASP-33b may work.