NASA's James Webb telescope detects 1st evidence of carbon dioxide in exoplanet atmosphere

In a recent discovery, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has captured the first conclusive evidence of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere of a planet outside of the solar system. According to a statement from NASA, this sighting of a gas giant planet orbiting a Sun-like star which is nearly 700 light-years away sheds light on the planet's composition and development. The exoplanet, WASP-39b, is a hot gas giant with a diameter 1.3 times larger than Jupiter and a mass around one-quarter that of Jupiter which is nearly the same as Saturn. 

The exoplanet's high temperature contributes to some of its excessive puffiness which could be measured at around 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit or 900 degrees Celsius, NASA reported. In contrast to the cooler, more compacted gas giants in our solar system, WASP-39 b circles its star very closely, only approximately one-eighth the distance between the Sun and Mercury, and completes one round in little over four Earth days. Furthermore, this exoplanet’s discovery was announced in 2011. 

The latest discovery, which has been approved for publication in Nature, provides proof that Webb could one day be able to identify and analyse carbon dioxide in the thinner atmospheres of smaller rocky planets, NASA reported.  

Natalie Batalha of the University of California at Santa Cruz, who leads the team, said, “Detecting such a clear signal of carbon dioxide on WASP-39 b bodes well for the detection of atmospheres on smaller, terrestrial-sized planets,” as per the statement.  

Carbon dioxide on Exoplanet, WASP-39b

For their observations of WASP-39b, the study team had employed Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). According to the statement, the first definitive, in-depth proof of carbon dioxide ever found on a planet outside the solar system is shown by a little hill between 4.1 and 4.6 microns in the resulting spectrum of the exoplanet's atmosphere. 

In addition to this, no other observatory has previously recorded such minute variations in the brightness of so many different colours in an exoplanet transmission spectrum between the range of 3 and 5.5 microns. For determining the abundances of gases like water and methane as well as carbon dioxide, which are believed to exist in a variety of exoplanet types, access to this range of the spectrum is essential. 

Furthermore, it is crucial to comprehend a planet's atmosphere because it contains information about the planet's formation and evolution. According to Mike Line of Arizona State University, another member of the study team, "Carbon dioxide molecules are sensitive tracers of the story of planet formation." 

Mike Line added that they can tell how much solid and how much gaseous material was utilised to construct this gas giant planet by studying this carbon dioxide characteristic. According to him, JWST will do this measurement for a number of planets over the next ten years, shedding light on the specifics of planet formation and the peculiarities of our own solar system.

(Image: Pixabay/ Representative)