INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NASA&s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar
system.This observation of a gas giant planet orbiting a Sun-like star 700 light-years away provides important insights into the composition
and formation of the planet, NASA reported this week.The finding, accepted for publication in Nature, offers evidence that in the future
Webb may be able to detect and measure carbon dioxide in the thinner atmospheres of smaller rocky planets.WASP-39 b is a hot gas giant with
a mass roughly one-quarter that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter.Its extreme puffiness is related in part to its
high temperature, about 900 degrees Celsius.Unlike the cooler, more compact gas giants in our solar system, WASP-39 b orbits very close to
its star & only about one-eighth the distance between the Sun and Mercury & completing one circuit in just over four Earth-days.The planet&s
discovery, reported in 2011, was made based on ground-based detections of the subtle, periodic dimming of light from its host star as the
planet transits, or passes in front of the star.Previous observations from other telescopes, including NASA&s Hubble and Spitzer space
telescopes, revealed the presence of water vapor, sodium, and potassium in the planet&s atmosphere.The post NASA&s Webb detects carbon
dioxide in exoplanet atmosphere first appeared on Ariana News.
