James Webb discovers the secrets of an exoplanet’s impressive atmosphere

It has been proven more than once The James Webb Telescope Not only is it a technological marvel, it goes beyond just offering beautiful visuals. We’ve already seen that in Spain Many times His latest achievements will not leave scientists indifferent. Webb succeeded in detecting the configuration From the atmosphere of a planet far away from us.

[Así son Los Pilares de la Creación: la deslumbrante foto captada por el James Webb a 6.500 años luz]

We are talking about WASP-39b, An exoplanet orbiting a star located 700 light years away from us. It is considered “hot saturn”, Which, according to NASA, means that it is a planet about the same size as Saturn but its orbit is “much smaller than that of Mercury”. The web has unlocked secrets composition of its atmosphere.

Of course, NASA has studied the planet’s atmosphere before, thanks to both the space agency’s Hubble and Spitzer, which have already revealed the “isolated components of the atmosphere” of WASP-39b. What is new is that Webb was able to identify a good part of its composition, including “atoms, molecules, and even signs of chemical activity and clouds.”

exoplanet atmosphere

As determined by Natalie Batalha, a UC Santa Cruz astronomer who assisted and helped coordinate the research, this is “before-and-after” data. According to Batalha, the exoplanet was observed “by various instruments that together provide a wide range of the infrared spectrum and a set of chemical signatures that were previously inaccessible.”

Discoveries were collected in up to 5 different scientific articles, 3 are ready for publication and 2 are under review. This includes the first detection in the atmosphere of an exoplanet Sulfur dioxide or SO2. This is caused by chemical reactions generated by the high-energy light from the star orbiting WASP-39b. Sodium, potassium and water vapor were also detected, confirming “previous observations from space and ground-based telescopes”.

But how did Webb see the light from an exoplanet? Webb was able to track the planet He also passed in front of his star. Thus, some of the light it emits is filtered through WASP-39b’s atmosphere, and so are the chemicals that make up its toxic atmosphere. They absorbed “various colors of the starlight spectrum”.

The missing colors tell astronomers which particles are present. Webb’s infrared optical vision, which can pick up chemical signals undetectable in visible light, did the rest.

A team of hundreds of researchers independently analyzed data from all four modes of Webb’s calibrated instruments to determine the spectrum of an exoplanet’s atmosphere.

On the other hand, Webb was also able to monitor specific components such as carbon dioxide with higher precision, and shed You reach “double the data” than the ones he mentioned in his previous remarks. Carbon monoxide, CO, has also been detected. NASA details how Webb’s data was missing Effects of methane and hydrogen sulfide. “If these molecules exist, they will occur at very low levels.”

[Así es Euclid, el ‘hermano pequeño’ del James Webb con el que Europa buscará los orígenes del universo]

The proximity of an exoplanet to its star means that it is, according to NASA, the perfect place to study how radiation from its host stars affects exoplanets. Thus, a better, “deeper” understanding can be achieved, according to NASA, about the effects of these processes on the diversity of the planets we have observed.

As if that weren’t enough, NASA acknowledges how comprehensive this list of chemical ingredients is. It is enough for scientists to recognize the abundance of “the various elements bound together, such as the ratios of change from oxygen or from potassium to oxygen.” Insight into how this planet formed is gained from the disk of gas and dust that already surrounded the star it orbited when it was still young.

Thus, the first evidence of photochemical activity (chemical reactions initiated by energetic starlight) on exoplanets was achieved. Min Tsai, a researcher at the University of Oxford in the UK and an author of the paper, considers this “a really promising possibility for advancing our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres.”

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