For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet. The discovery of carbon dioxide has been detected on the giant planet WASP-39 b orbiting the Sun star 700 light years from us. NASA says the discovery provides important insights into the composition and formation of the planet. It added that in the future the Webb Telescope could detect and measure carbon dioxide in the thinner atmospheres of smaller rocky planets.
The hot gas giant, WASP-39 b has a mass close to Saturn and 1.3 times larger diameter Jupiter. NASA says its high temperatures can reach 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, or 900 degrees Celsius. “Unlike the more compact gas giants, it’s cooler in the air. solar systemWASP-39 b orbits very close to its star – only about one-eighth the distance between the Sun and Mercury – completing one revolution in just over four Earth days.” NASA said in a blog post. The planet was discovered earlier in 2011.
To detect carbon dioxide, the team of researchers used the Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRSpec) instrument of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, observing a small hill between 4.1 and 4.6 microns in the spectrum of exoplanet atmospheres. According to the team, this is the first clear and detailed evidence of the availability of carbon dioxide.
However, this is the first time that no observatory has ever measured the subtle difference in brightness that helps detect the presence of carbon dioxide.
This exoplanet is not just Carbon Dioxide
It’s not just carbon dioxide, but previous observations from other telescopes like NASA’s Hubble Telescope and the Spitzer space telescope have also revealed the presence of water vapor, sodium and potassium in the atmosphere of the same planet. And now, the James Webb Telescope has also confirmed the presence of carbon dioxide on the planet.
