For a long time, astronomers have explored the possibility of life on exoplanets. Exoplanets are planets outside of our solar system. Exoplanets have different conditions than Earth does. Astronomers believe that exoplanets have water and a habitable atmosphere can support life.

Fun Fact: Astronomers have discovered over 4,000 exoplanets.

A part of learning if an atmosphere is habitable is understanding wind speed. On Earth, measuring wind speed is easy. As the Earth rotates, its continents rotate with it at the same speed. On the other hand, the wind blows Earth's clouds through its atmosphere. Thus, we can see the speed of the wind by taking the difference between the land speed and the cloud speed.

The problem is that other planets may not have clouds we can see, if they have any at all. Astronomers noticed, however, that a planet's surface brightness changes as clouds move. Scientists decided to test wind speed using the principle. They observed a brown dwarf, a body larger than a planet but smaller than a star, 33 light years from Earth. The astronomers measured winds moving at 2,400 kilometers per hour - 50 to 60 times faster than those on Earth!

This technique, the scientists say, is promising! After all, we know that if a planet has a similar atmosphere to Earth, then it can support life; we’re here after all!

Citation:https://www.inverse.com/science/wind-on-other-planets-aliens