JWST Finds a Clear, Unambiguous Signal for Carbon Dioxide in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere By Nancy_A
“Kepler and TESS observe transits in ‘white light’ whereas JWST can observe a transit in hundreds of colors all at once. JWST can do this because it’s equipped with spectrographs that spread white light into infrared rainbows of color,” she 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.”
WASP-39 b orbits very close to its star—only about one-eighth the distance between the Sun and Mercury—completing one orbit in just over four Earth-days. With its known atmosphere and frequent transits, the team knew that WASP-39 b was an ideal early target. The JWST team said that understanding the composition of a planet’s atmosphere is important because it tells us something about the origin of the planet and how it evolved.
“Seeing the data for the first time was like reading a poem in its entirety, when before we only had every third word,” added team member Laura Kreidberg of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. “These first results are just the beginning; the Early Release Science data have shown that Webb performs beautifully, and smaller and cooler exoplanets are within its reach.”
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