An illustration of the blisteringly hot exoplanets Wasp 17b (Image credit: Robert Lea)

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have unraveled some of the atmospheric secrets of a bizarre, blisteringly hot world that has the consistency of marshmallow.

The extrasolar planet, or exoplanet , under the watchful infrared eye of the JWST , is WASP-17b, located around 1,300 light-years away. The exoplanet has a mass around 0.8 times that of Jupiter, but it is around twice as wide as the solar system's largest planet, giving it a "super-puff" consistency comparable to the Earth-based treat. WASP-17 b is so close to its parent star that it completes an orbit in under four Earth days, with this proximity also making the temperature of this " hot Jupiter " skyrocket.

Given the extreme conditions of this exoplanet, it is little wonder that its atmosphere is pretty unusual too.…