James Webb Space Telescope Detects Variable Water Clouds on Distant Brown Dwarf

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have for the first time directly confirmed that water clouds on a Jupiter-sized brown dwarf, WISE 0855, are changing thickness over time, similar to weather patterns on Earth. The study, led by Brittany Miles of the University of Arizona, reveals that the brown dwarf's atmosphere is influenced by both high-altitude water clouds and deep chemical gases dredged upward by convection. This research, available as a preprint and accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, provides the most detailed time-series portrait of this frigid world.