NASA’s James Webb Telescope has detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time, and the discovery is significant because it indicates that the $10 billion (£7.4 billion) observatory may be able to detect and measure the gas in thinner atmospheres. for smaller rocky planets that could host life.
According to the British newspaper, “Daily Mail”, WASP-39 b is a hot gas giant orbiting a sun-like star 700 light-years from Earth.
The planet has a mass about one-fourth the mass of Jupiter, and its diameter is 1.3 times greater than that of Jupiter.
The exoplanet’s extreme bulge is partly related to its high temperature, which is around 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, or 900 degrees Celsius.
Also, unlike the cooler and more compact gas giants in our solar system, WASP-39 b orbits very close to its star, only about one-eighth of the distance between the Sun and Mercury, and completes one circle in just over four days on Earth.
The discovery of the planet, which was reported in 2011, was based on careful ground-based detections and the periodic dimming of light from its host star as the planet transits or passes in front of the star.
Previous observations from other telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, have revealed the presence of water vapor, sodium and potassium in the planet’s atmosphere.
Webb’s unparalleled sensitivity to infrared radiation confirmed the presence of carbon dioxide on this planet
Transient planets such as WASP-39 b, whose orbits we observe from the edge rather than from above, could provide researchers with ideal opportunities to explore the planets’ atmospheres, and access to this part of the spectrum is crucial to measuring the abundance of gases such as water and methane, as well as carbon dioxide, which They are believed to be present on many different types of exoplanets.