Webb finds watervapor, but is it from a rockyplanet or its star? NASA AAS_Office
. As a result, one important open question in astronomy is whether a rocky planet could maintain, or reestablish, an atmosphere in such a harsh environment.
"We see a signal and it's almost certainly due to water. But we can't tell yet if that water is part of the planet's atmosphere, meaning the planet has an atmosphere, or if we're just seeing a water signature coming from the star," said Sarah Moran of the University of Arizona in Tucson, lead author of the study.
This graphic shows the transmission spectrum obtained by Webb observations of rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b. The science team’s analysis shows hints of water vapor; however, computer models show that the signal could be from a water-rich planetary atmosphere or from starspots from the red dwarf host star . The two models diverge noticeably at shorter infrared wavelengths, indicating that additional observations with other Webb instruments will be needed to constrain the source of the water signal.
While the water vapor could potentially indicate the presence of an atmosphere on GJ 486 b, an equally plausible explanation is water vapor from the star. Surprisingly, even in our own Sun, water vapor can sometimes exist in sunspots because these spots are very cool compared to the surrounding surface of the star. GJ 486 b's host star is much cooler than the Sun, so even more water vapor would concentrate within its starspots.
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