Webb captures the first clear evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of WASP-39 B, a gas giant closely orbiting a Sun-like star 700 light-years away, NASA says.

                        Webb’s highly sensitive NIRSpec can detect the tiny changes the atmosphere has in light, allowing scientists to determine its gaseous composition.  (AP File)

The months-old James Webb Space Telescope has added another major scientific discovery to its growing list: detecting for the first time signs of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system. Although the exoplanet could never support life as we know it, the successful discovery of CO2 gives researchers hope that similar observations could be made on rocky objects more hospitable to life. “My first thought: wow, we really have a chance to probe the atmospheres of Earth-sized planets,” tweeted Natalie Batalha, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and one of hundreds who worked on the Webb project. Their study of the exoplanet WASP-39, a hot gas giant in a tight orbit around a star 700 light-years away, will soon be published in the journal Nature. “For me, it opens a door for future research into super-Earths (planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune) or even Earth-sized planets,” said Pierre-Olivier Lagage, an astrophysicist at the French Atomic Energy Commission. (CEA). he told the AFP news agency. READ MORE: Amazing images of Jupiter captured by the James Webb Telescope Take a breath — Webb recorded the first clear evidence of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system! WASP-39 B is a gas giant closely orbiting a Sun-like star 700 light years away: pic.twitter.com/abJvqxfLdG — NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) August 25, 2022 ‘Special Moment’ The CO2 detection will also help scientists learn more about how WASP-39 formed, NASA said in a press release. The exoplanet, which orbits its star once every four Earth days, has a mass a quarter that of Jupiter, but is 1.3 times larger in diameter. Its orbital frequency and large atmosphere made WASP-39 an ideal candidate for an early test of Webb’s state-of-the-art infrared sensor, known as NIRSpec. Every time the exoplanet passes in front of its star, it blocks out an almost imperceptible amount of light. But around the edges of the planet, a tiny amount of light gets through the atmosphere. Webb’s highly sensitive NIRSpec can detect the tiny changes the atmosphere has in light, allowing scientists to determine its gaseous composition. The Hubble and Spitzer telescopes had already detected water vapor, sodium and potassium in WASP-39’s atmosphere, but carbon dioxide can now be added to that list thanks to Webb and its NIRSpec instrument. “It was a special moment, crossing an important threshold in exoplanet science,” Johns Hopkins University researcher Zafar Rustamkulov said in the NASA press release. READ MORE: ‘Never seen before’: Stunning images of cosmic rocks, valleys and galaxies Source: AFP