Supersonic winds
by Martina Matijević
Strong enough to blow our star
Sun feeling ghosted
WASP-127b located 520 light-years away, experiences equatorial winds reaching supersonic speeds of 33,000 km/h, the fastest ever measured on a planet. This gas giant orbits its host star every four days, enduring temperatures over 1,127 Celsius degrees. The discovery was made with the CRIRES+.
Further reading:
‘Extreme supersonic winds measured on planet outside our Solar System’, 2025, Science Daily, available: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250121125759.htm
‘CRIRES+ transmission spectroscopy of WASP-127 b – Detection of the resolved signatures of a supersonic equatorial jet and cool poles in a hot planet’, 2025, Nortmann, L., et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics, available: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450438
Author bio:
Matijević has orbited the Sun 23 times, making her 23 years old in Earth’s timekeeping system. A science enthusiast and poet, her work has appeared in 5-7-5 Haiku Journal, View from Atlantis and Awen. You can discover more of her poetry here: https://tinamatijev.wixsite.com/martina-matijevi