NASA's James Webb telescope detects water on distant planet

NASAs James Webb Space Telescope has detected signs of water along with evidence for clouds and haze in the atmosphere of a hot puffy gas giant planet orbiting a Sunlike star over a thousand light years away the US space agency said on WednesdayThe observation is the most detailed of its kind to date demonstrating Webbs unprecedented ability to analyse distant atmospheres according to NASA WASP96 b is one of more than 5000 confirmed exoplanets in the Milky WayLocated roughly 1150 lightyears away in the southernsky constellation Phoenix it represents a type of gas giant that has no direct analogue in our solar system it said in a statementWith a mass less than half that of Jupiter and a diameter 12 times greater WASP96 b is much puffier than any planet orbiting our Sun With a temperature greater than 538 degrees Celsius it is significantly hotterWASP96 b orbits extremely close to its Sunlike star just oneninth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun completing one circuit every threeandahalf Earthdays according to NASAThe combination of large size short orbital period puffy atmosphere and lack of contaminating light from objects nearby in the sky makes WASP96 b an ideal target for atmospheric observationsWhile the Hubble Space Telescope has analysed numerous exoplanet atmospheres over the past two decades capturing the first clear detection of water in 2013 Webbs immediate and more detailed observation marks a giant leap forward in the quest to characterise potentially habitable planets beyond EarthOn June 21 Webbs NearInfrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph NIRISS measured light from the WASP96 system for 64 hours as the planet moved across the starThis resulted in a light curve showing the overall dimming of starlight during the transit and a transmission spectrum revealing the brightness change of individual wavelengths of infrared light between 06 and 28 micronsThe light curve confirmed properties of the planet that had already been determined from other observations the existence size and orbit of the planetThe transmission spectrum revealed the previously hidden details of the atmosphere the unambiguous signature of water indications of haze and evidence of clouds that were thought not to exist based on prior observationsA transmission spectrum is made by comparing starlight filtered through a planets atmosphere as it moves across the star to the unfiltered starlight detected when the planet is beside the starResearchers are able to detect and measure the abundances of key gases in a planets atmosphere based on the absorption pattern the locations and heights of peaks on the graphIn the same way that people have distinctive fingerprints and DNA sequences atoms and molecules have characteristic patterns of wavelengths that they absorbThe spectrum of WASP96 b is not only the most detailed nearinfrared transmission spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere captured to date but it also covers a remarkably wide range of wavelengths including visible red light and a portion of the spectrum that has not previously been accessible from other telescopes NASA saidThis part of the spectrum is particularly sensitive to water as well as other key molecules like oxygen methane and carbon dioxideResearchers will be able to use the spectrum to measure the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere constrain the abundance of various elements like carbon and oxygen and estimate the temperature of the atmosphere with depthThey can then use this information to make inferences about the overall makeup of the planet as well as how when and where it formedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever