SPACE: Now in 3D, maps begin to bring exoplanets into focus.

Astronomers have generated the first three-dimensional map of a planet orbiting another star, revealing an atmosphere with distinct temperature zones – one so scorching that it breaks down water vapor, a team co-led by a Cornell expert reports in new research.

The temperature map of WASP-18b – a gas giant known as an “ultra-hot Jupiter,” located 400 light years from Earth – is the first applying 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’s potential to leverage highly sensitive observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The researchers say that for many similar types of exoplanets observable by JWST, they can now begin mapping atmospheric variations just as, for example, Earth-based telescopes long ago observed Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and banded cloud structure.

“Eclipse mapping allows us to image exoplanets that we can’t see directly, because their host stars are too bright,” said Ryan Challener, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. “With this telescope and this new technique, we can start to understand exoplanets along the same lines as our solar system neighbors.”

Exciting stuff, and JWST is just getting started.