Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
This set of maps shows the temperature of the visible side of the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b, as it orbits its star. The dayside of the planet is visible just before and after it passes behind the star. The temperatures were calculated based on more than 8,000 brightness measurements of 5- to 12-micron mid-infrared light detected from the star-planet system by MIRI (the Mid-Infrared Instrument) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. In general, the hotter an object is, the more mid-infrared light it gives off.