{
  "id": 17257513,
  "title": "Team finds variable water clouds beyond our solar system for the first time",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/30/team-finds-variable-water-clouds-beyond-our-solar-system-for-the",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-30T16:16:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Futurity",
    "slug": "futurity",
    "url": "https://www.futurity.org/variable-water-clouds-outside-our-solar-system-3350652/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A team of astronomers, led by Brittany Miles from the University of Arizona, has discovered variable water clouds beyond our solar system for the first time. They studied WISE 0855, a Jupiter-sized world located just 7.5 light-years away, using the James Webb Space Telescope. By continuously observing the brown dwarf for 11 hours, the team collected a detailed spectrum of its light every 15 minutes, revealing the most comprehensive time-series portrait of this frigid celestial object. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, confirms that the atmosphere of WISE 0855 features variable water clouds, which grow thicker and thinner as the object rotates, similar to weather patterns on Earth. This discovery is significant because it not only provides new insights into the atmosphere of WISE 0855 but also offers valuable information about planetary atmospheres in general. As brown dwarfs possess characteristics both of planets and stars, understanding their atmospheres can help shed light on the diverse weather systems across the universe, from Jupiter-like gas giants to other exoplanets.",
  "summary": "\"This is the first time we've been able to confirm that water clouds are becoming thinner and thicker on a nearby world.\"",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}