NASA - Extreme Winds Outside Solar System

A First:  Extremely High Winds Tracked 

on a Huge Object Outside of Our Solar System

Source:  NASA

Winds on a "Failed Star" of 1,450 MPH

NASA has achieved yet another first in space.  

NASA scientists have clocked winds of 1,450 mph

on a huge "brown dwarf" or failed star, that 

is 33.2 light years away and outside of 

our solar system.  The object is the size

of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar

system, and 40 times Jupiter's mass.

The winds are extremely fierce.

This discovery is a first for astronomers.

Previously they were only able to

measure winds speeds on planets and

objects within our solar system.

Whole New Worlds

The scientists say this discovery opens

the way to understand atmospheres

unlike anything in our solar system.

The technique they used to make this

discovery is also a first. The discovery

was made by combining the detection 

of radio and infrared emissions from the

brown dwarf.  They measured the spinning

rotation rate of the dwarf and the

rotation rate of the atmosphere around the

dwarf.  By comparing those rates,

the NASA scientists made history and

establish the wind speed around a huge

object in distant space.

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