2023-11-19 20:14:00
The planet ” Daddy’s beard “, is the nickname given to Wasp-107b, which orbits a star in the constellation Virgo, 200 light years from Earth. Discovered in 2017, the planet is as large as Jupiter, but as light as Neptune, making it relatively easy for James Webb to study.
Indeed, to analyze the atmosphere of an exoplanet, the telescope must wait for it to pass between its star and us. The light from the latter being filtered by the atmosphere of its planet, it is possible to guess part of its composition. By its nature, Wasp-107b makes this observation more obvious than in the case of a rocky planet the size of Earth, where the atmosphere is much smaller.
« It’s an ideal target because it’s really fluffy », Comments Joanna Barstow, planetary scientist at the Open University. “ They are one of the fluffiest planets in existence, and they are what allow us to obtain these important signals when we observe their atmosphere “. But then, what does Wasp-107b tell us regarding its nature?
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