However, according to the findings of a team led by Apurva Oza, a former postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and current staff scientist at Caltech, the sodium envelope may originate from a nearby region described as a “hell planet,” full of volcanoes. on its face and covered in enough flowing mud to keep Anakin Skywalker far, far away.
Oza’s team of researchers first noticed that the sodium envelope around WASP-49 b seems to be inconsistent with the exoplanet, failing to match the rotation speed. According to a statement summarizing the findings of the research team, the sodium cloud is moving fast and “in a way that would seem impossible unless it is produced by another independent moving body, and faster than a planet,” the statement reads.