![]() ![]() ![]() To see light from WASP-39 b, Webb tracked the planet as it passed in front of its star, allowing some of the star’s light to filter through the planet’s atmosphere. ![]() Better knowledge of the star-planet connection should bring a deeper understanding of how these processes affect the diversity of planets observed in the galaxy. The planet’s proximity to its host star – eight times closer than Mercury is to our Sun – also makes it a laboratory for studying the effects of radiation from host stars on exoplanets. “On Earth, those transformations allow life to thrive.” “Planets are sculpted and transformed by orbiting within the radiation bath of the host star,” Batalha said. “The whole international community came together to solve the mystery of this remarkable planet.” “We observed the exoplanet with multiple instruments that, together, provide a broad swath of the infrared spectrum and a panoply of chemical fingerprints inaccessible until ,” said Natalie Batalha, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who contributed to and helped coordinate the new research. That includes probing the atmospheres of smaller, rocky planets like those in the TRAPPIST-1 system. The findings bode well for the capability of Webb’s instruments to conduct the broad range of investigations of all types of exoplanets – planets around other stars – hoped for by the science community. The telescope’s array of highly sensitive instruments was trained on the atmosphere of WASP-39 b, a “hot Saturn” (a planet about as massive as Saturn but in an orbit tighter than Mercury) orbiting a star some 700 light-years away. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) At lower right, additional NIRSpec data reveals all of these molecules as well as sodium (Na). At lower left, data from NIRSpec indicates water, sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO). At upper right, data from NIRCam shows a prominent water signature. At upper left, data from NIRISS shows fingerprints of potassium (K), water (H2O), and carbon monoxide (CO). All are plotted on a common scale extending from 0.5 to 5.5 microns. This graphic shows four transmission spectra from three of Webb’s instruments operated in four instrument modes. The atmospheric composition of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-39 b has been revealed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The latest data also give a hint of how these clouds might look up close: broken up rather than a single, uniform blanket over the planet. While Webb and other space telescopes, including NASA's Hubble and Spitzer, previously have revealed isolated ingredients of this broiling planet’s atmosphere, the new readings from Webb provide a full menu of atoms, molecules, and even signs of active chemistry and clouds. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope just scored another first: a molecular and chemical profile of a distant world’s skies. Observing photocemistry (reactions triggered by starlight) at work on an exoplanet Identifying sulfur dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere NASA's James Webb Space Telescope provided the most detailed analysis of an exoplanet atmosphere ever with WASP-39 b analysis released in November 2022. The exoplanet WASP-39 b is also known as Bocaprins, a name bestowed by the International Astronomical Union for a scenic beach in Aruba. ![]()
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