Scientists find a surprise ingredient in exoplanet cake mix — sulfur dioxide

A blue haze partially covers the view of a large burning yellow and orange star. A smaller orb, a planet, passes in front of the star within the haze.

A 'hot Neptune' exoplanet has been found to contain sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere — an atmosphere that's also gushing into space as the planet loops over its star's poles on a steeply inclined orbit every three-and-a-third days.

The existence of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet, dubbed GJ 3470b and located 96 light-years from Earth, came as a shock when it was spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).