[The Epoch Times, August 26, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Li Yan compiled and reported) NASA’sWeberspacetelescopeEvidence has been clearly captured: aexoplanetexist in the atmospherecarbon dioxide.The researchers say the finding “crosses the line”exoplanetAn important threshold in science”. Webb will make such measurements on various planets over the next decade to understand their origin and evolution.
The exoplanet, WASP-39 b, is a gas giant orbiting a sun-like star, a transiting planet 700 light-years from Earth, according to NASA. This is JamesWeberspacetelescope(JWST) as part of a larger exploration of the universe.
Understanding the composition of the atmospheres of planets like WASP-39 b is critical to understanding their origins and how they evolved, NASA noted in a press release.
Mike Line, an associate professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, said in a news release:carbon dioxideMolecules are sensitive trackers of planet formation stories. Lane was a member of the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science team that conducted the survey.
The team used one of Webb’s four science instruments, the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec), to observe carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of WASP-39 b. Their research is part of the Early Release Science Program. The program aims to provide the exoplanet research community with data from the telescope as soon as possible to guide further scientific research and discoveries.
The latest findings have been published in the journal Nature.
“By measuring this carbon dioxide signature, we can determine how much solid matter and how much gaseous matter formed the gas giant,” Lane added. “Over the next decade, JWST will make these measurements on various planets to gain insight into Details of how planets formed and the uniqueness of our own solar system.”
A new era of exoplanet research
The Webb telescope was launched into its existing orbit 1.5 million kilometers (nearly 932,000 miles) above Earth in Christmas 2021. Webb uses longer wavelengths of light to observe the universe than other space telescopes. Therefore, it has a sharper and more profound observation than its predecessors.
In the captured spectrum of the planet’s atmosphere, the researchers saw a “hill” between 4.1 and 4.6 micrometers. It was a “clear carbon dioxide signal,” team leader Natalie Batalha, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, said in a press release.
During WASP-39 b’s transit, part of its starlight is completely obscured by the planet (resulting in an overall dimming), and some of the starlight is transmitted through the planet’s atmosphere.
Because different gases absorb different color combinations, researchers can analyze small differences in the brightness of transmitted light across the entire wavelength spectrum to determine the exact composition of the atmosphere. Given its expanding atmosphere and frequent transits, WASP-39 b is an ideal target for transmission spectroscopy.
Previously, NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer telescopes found water vapor, sodium and potassium in the planet’s atmosphere. “Previous observations of this planet with Hubble and Spitzer have given us tantalizing hints that carbon dioxide may be present,” Batara said.
“The data from JWST shows a clear CO2 signature that’s so prominent it’s almost shouting at us,” she said.
“As soon as the data appeared on my screen, the amazing carbon dioxide signature grabbed me,” team member Zafar Rustamkulov said in a release. He is John Ho Graduate student in the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Perkins University.
“This is a special moment that crosses an important threshold in exoplanet science,” he added.
Discovered in 2011, WASP-39 b is about the same mass as Saturn, about a quarter of Jupiter’s, and 1.3 times the diameter of Jupiter. The extremely expanding hot gas giant reaches temperatures of around 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (871 degrees Celsius).
Because the exoplanet orbits very close to its star—only one-eighth the distance between the sun and its closest neighbor, Mercury, it completes a cycle in just over four Earth days.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#