{"id":29619,"date":"2025-12-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/?p=29619"},"modified":"2025-12-05T10:29:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:29:26","slug":"now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/08\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Now in 3D: Maps begin to bring exoplanets into focus"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-600x338.jpeg\" alt=\"Illustration of the exoplanet WASP-18b\" class=\"wp-image-29621\" style=\"width:678px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-600x338.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-665x374.jpeg 665w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The exoplanet WASP-18b is so hot that water molecules are split apart on its \u201cdayside\u201d that always faces its nearby sun, according to new research using the JWST. Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech (K. Miller\/IPAC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">Written by James Dean, Cornell Chronicle.<br>Originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/news.umich.edu\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus\/\">Michigan News<\/a>.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An international team of astronomers, including <a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/astro\/people\/core-faculty\/erausche.html\">Emily Rauscher<\/a> of the University of Michigan, has generated the first 3D map of a planet orbiting another star. The map reveals an atmosphere with distinct temperature zones \u2014 one so scorching that it breaks down water vapor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-inline-notice uagb-inline_notice__align-left uagb-block-56ebc488\"><button class=\"uagb-notice-close-button\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Close\"><\/button><h4 class=\"uagb-notice-title\">Study<\/h4><div class=\"uagb-notice-text\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-025-02666-9\">Horizontal and vertical exoplanet thermal structure from a JWST spectroscopic eclipse map<\/a> (DOI: 10.1038\/s41550-025-02666-9)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPartially, this result is really cool because it\u2019s a demonstration of a new technique,\u201d said Rauscher, U-M associate professor of astronomy. \u201cScientifically, this result is also really cool because, for this particular planet, it gets incredibly hot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team, co-led by Ryan Challener of Cornell University and Megan Weiner Mansfield of the University of Maryland, published its findings in the journal Nature Astronomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team\u2019s temperature map is of a planet known as WASP-18b, which is a gas giant, like Jupiter in our solar system, but it\u2019s located 400 light years from Earth. It is so close to its star and so hot that scientists refer to it as an \u201cultra hot Jupiter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team\u2019s effort demonstrates a technique called 3D eclipse mapping, or spectroscopic eclipse mapping. The effort builds on a 2D model that members of the same team published in 2023, which demonstrated eclipse mapping\u2019s potential to leverage highly sensitive observations by the JWST, Earth\u2019s most powerful space telescope. Operated by NASA, the JWST is also supported by the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEclipse mapping allows us to image exoplanets that we can\u2019t see directly, because their host stars are too bright,\u201d said Challener, a postdoctoral associate at Cornell. \u201cWith this telescope and this new technique, we can start to understand exoplanets along the same lines as our solar system neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similar to how Earth-based telescopes enabled astronomers to start characterizing Jupiter\u2019s Great Red Spot long ago, JWST will now enable scientists to start characterizing more exoplanet atmospheres with this technique, the team said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Challener was previously a postdoctoral researcher in Rauscher\u2019s group U-M, where he started developing computer code that could extract 3D thermal information from JWST\u2019s data. Mansfield also has a U-M connection: Parts of the methodology she brought to the new project were seeded at a workshop hosted by Rauscher in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI definitely have a bit of pride in that,\u201d Rauscher said. \u201cHere at Michigan, we\u2019ve been able to contribute toward making this observation happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team included about three dozen researchers from more than 20 institutions worldwide. The research was supported by JWST\u2019s Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mapping distant skies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Detecting exoplanets is a challenge to begin with. Light from their host stars can overwhelm what\u2019s emitted by the planets. In terms of brightness, exoplanets are typically less than 0.1% as bright as their stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe analogy is a firefly in front of a lighthouse,\u201d Rauscher said. \u201cBut we know when the planet is in front of and when it\u2019s behind the star. We can actually measure that tiny little dip that had been light coming from the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">JWST can precisely measure how that light is lost as the planet moves behind the star. This enables scientists to link minute changes in light to specific regions to produce a brightness map across a spectrum of different light wavelengths, or colors. That spectroscopic information can be converted to temperatures in three dimensions: latitude, longitude and altitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASP-18b, which has roughly the mass of 10 Jupiters, orbits in just 23 hours and has temperatures approaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That provided JWST with a relatively strong signal, making it a good test case for the new mapping technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new view of the exoplanet confirmed spectroscopically distinct regions in WASP-18b\u2019s visible \u201cdayside,\u201d the side always facing the star due to its tidally locked orbit. The planet features a circular \u201chotspot\u201d where the most direct starlight lands, and where winds appear too weak to redistribute the heat. Surrounding the hotspot is a colder ring nearer the planet\u2019s outer visible edges, or limbs. Notably, Challener said, measurements showed lower levels of water vapor in the hotspot than WASP-18b\u2019s average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe think that\u2019s evidence that the planet is so hot in this region that it\u2019s starting to break down the water,\u201d Challener said. \u201cThat had been predicted by theory, but it\u2019s really exciting to actually see this with real observations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additional JWST observations could help improve the first 3D eclipse map\u2019s spatial resolution, the team said. And the technique can already help map the 3D temperature variation of other hot Jupiters, which account for hundreds of the more than 6,000 exoplanets confirmed to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne of the really cool things about exoplanets is that most of the planets we found are completely unlike the ones in our solar system,\u201d Rauscher said. \u201cAnd so it\u2019s a lot of fun to try and figure out how we take what we understand, more or less, in our solar system and stretch it to these very different situations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new technique is helping scientists better understand the atmospheres of the planets outside our solar system \u2014 many of which are unlike anything orbiting our sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_umich_oidc_access":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[230,1179,1178],"class_list":["post-29619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-3d","tag-astronomy","tag-data-analysis"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b.jpeg",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-400x266.jpeg",400,266,true],"medium":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-300x169.jpeg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-768x432.jpeg",665,374,true],"large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-600x338.jpeg",600,338,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b.jpeg",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b.jpeg",1280,720,false],"excerpt-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-200x140.jpeg",200,140,true],"themonic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-60x42.jpeg",60,42,true],"ioslider-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-658x300.jpeg",658,300,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-665x374.jpeg",665,374,true],"400x250-crop":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/now-in-3d-maps-begin-to-bring-exoplanets-into-focus-eclipse_mapping_wasp-18b-400x250.jpeg",400,250,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"News Staff","author_link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/author\/mitnewsadm\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A new technique is helping scientists better understand the atmospheres of the planets outside our solar system \u2014 many of which are unlike anything orbiting our 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