Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may have uncovered one of the Holy Grails of astronomy and astrophysics: the discovery of a rocky exoplanet with an exotic, water-rich atmosphere. Then again, it might all be an illusion...
How JWST Uncovered a Possible Atmosphere
JWST detected the planet’s atmosphere, or at least evidence of one, by zeroing in on the planet as it passed in front of the star. As starlight filtered through the shroud, the telescope recorded the changes to the near infrared part of the spectrum. After crunching the data, the scientists concluded that the planet lacked the most common planetary gases: carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen.
“There is no comparable atmosphere in our own solar system,” said Kevin Stevenson of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in a press release. “We could be exploring a brave new world that would speak to the diversity of exoplanet atmospheres out there.”The strange new atmosphere could also be something much less exciting. Despite their great temperatures, dwarf stars can and do harbor water molecules in their own atmospheres – their photospheres.
“But that doesn't mean that there aren't spots elsewhere on the star,” said Ryan MacDonald, an astrophysicist at the University of Michigan, in a press release. “And that's exactly the physical scenario that would impart these signals into the data and could wind up looking like a planetary atmosphere.”Researchers plan to point the JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument at the planet’s scorching day side to probe the possible atmosphere from a different angle.
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