Highlights

  • NASA's Webb Telescope detects signs of water
  • Cloud and haze also detected on WASP-96 b
  • WASP-96 b 1000 light years away from Earth

Latest news

Dominique Pelicot sentenced to 20 years in landmark French mass rape case

Dominique Pelicot sentenced to 20 years in landmark French mass rape case

PM Modi speaks to King Charles, reaffirms India-UK strategic partnership

PM Modi speaks to King Charles, reaffirms India-UK strategic partnership

Omar Abdullah meets Amit Shah, discusses J&K's statehood restoration

Omar Abdullah meets Amit Shah, discusses J&K's statehood restoration

Unprecedented fracas on Parliament premises, 2 BJP MPs injured; NDA, Congress file police complaints

Unprecedented fracas on Parliament premises, 2 BJP MPs injured; NDA, Congress file police complaints

Palestinians say six killed in Israeli West Bank operations

Palestinians say six killed in Israeli West Bank operations

Around 70 Hindu pilgrims arrive in Pak from India to perform religious rituals at Katas Raj temples

Around 70 Hindu pilgrims arrive in Pak from India to perform religious rituals at Katas Raj temples

Delhi Elections: MCD passes proposal to release Rs 25.35 crore for preparations

Delhi Elections: MCD passes proposal to release Rs 25.35 crore for preparations

Global stocks struggle amid inflation, economic fears: December 19, 2024 analysis

Global stocks struggle amid inflation, economic fears: December 19, 2024 analysis

NASA's Webb Telescope detects water on a planet over 1,000 light years away

WASP-96 b orbits extremely close to its Sun-like star, just one-ninth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun, completing one circuit every three-and-a-half Earth-days, according to NASA.

NASA's Webb Telescope detects water on a planet over 1,000 light years away

NASA's 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 Sun-like star over a thousand light years away, the US space agency said on Wednesday.

The observation is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb's unprecedented ability to analyse distant atmospheres, according to NASA. WASP-96 b is one of more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets in the Milky Way.

Located roughly 1,150 light-years away in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix, it represents a type of gas giant that has no direct analogue in our solar system, it said in a statement.

With a mass less than half that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.2 times greater, WASP-96 b is much puffier than any planet orbiting our Sun. With a temperature greater than 538 degrees Celsius, it is significantly hotter.

WASP-96 b orbits extremely close to its Sun-like star, just one-ninth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun, completing one circuit every three-and-a-half Earth-days, according to NASA.

The combination of large size, short orbital period, puffy atmosphere, and lack of contaminating light from objects nearby in the sky makes WASP-96 b an ideal target for atmospheric observations.

While the Hubble Space Telescope has analysed numerous exoplanet atmospheres over the past two decades, capturing the first clear detection of water in 2013, Webb's immediate and more detailed observation marks a giant leap forward in the quest to characterise potentially habitable planets beyond Earth.

On June 21, Webb's Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) measured light from the WASP-96 system for 6.4 hours as the planet moved across the star.

This 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 0.6 and 2.8 microns.

The light curve confirmed properties of the planet that had already been determined from other observations - the existence, size, and orbit of the planet.

The 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 observations.

A transmission spectrum is made by comparing starlight filtered through a planet's atmosphere as it moves across the star to the unfiltered starlight detected when the planet is beside the star.

Researchers are able to detect and measure the abundances of key gases in a planet's atmosphere based on the absorption pattern - the locations and heights of peaks on the graph.

In the same way that people have distinctive fingerprints and DNA sequences, atoms and molecules have characteristic patterns of wavelengths that they absorb.

The spectrum of WASP-96 b is not only the most detailed near-infrared 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 said.

This part of the spectrum is particularly sensitive to water as well as other key molecules like oxygen, methane, and carbon dioxide.

Also watch: Dying stars to galatic interactions: NASA releases more images from James Webb Telescope

Researchers 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 depth.

They can then use this information to make inferences about the overall make-up of the planet, as well as how, when, and where it formed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Up Next

NASA's Webb Telescope detects water on a planet over 1,000 light years away

NASA's Webb Telescope detects water on a planet over 1,000 light years away

Israel accused of 'acts of genocide', 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza

Israel accused of 'acts of genocide', 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza

Palestinians say six killed in Israeli West Bank operations

Palestinians say six killed in Israeli West Bank operations

Around 70 Hindu pilgrims arrive in Pak from India to perform religious rituals at Katas Raj temples

Around 70 Hindu pilgrims arrive in Pak from India to perform religious rituals at Katas Raj temples

Mysterious 'dinga dinga' illness causing body shaking affects 300 in Uganda

Mysterious 'dinga dinga' illness causing body shaking affects 300 in Uganda

Putin ready to meet Trump 'anytime' to talk Ukraine deal

Putin ready to meet Trump 'anytime' to talk Ukraine deal

ADVERTISEMENT

editorji-whatsApp

More videos

UK PM Keir Starmer hosts Indian business chiefs to boost investments

UK PM Keir Starmer hosts Indian business chiefs to boost investments

Russia claims capture of two new villages in east Ukraine: agencies

Russia claims capture of two new villages in east Ukraine: agencies

US Govt urges Supreme Court to dismiss Mumbai terror accused Rana's petition for writ of certiorari

US Govt urges Supreme Court to dismiss Mumbai terror accused Rana's petition for writ of certiorari

Nuclear-armed Pakistan says fresh US sanctions 'biased'

Nuclear-armed Pakistan says fresh US sanctions 'biased'

New Zealand falls into recession with abrupt economic slowdown

New Zealand falls into recession with abrupt economic slowdown

Russian oil spill contaminates 50km of Black Sea beaches

Russian oil spill contaminates 50km of Black Sea beaches

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore face extended stay on ISS

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore face extended stay on ISS

'Satellite beams turned off over India': Musk rejects claim of Starlink misuse in Manipur

'Satellite beams turned off over India': Musk rejects claim of Starlink misuse in Manipur

Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill at least 12 Palestinians

Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill at least 12 Palestinians

Muhammad Yunus celebrates end of Sheikh Hasina’s ‘autocratic government’

Muhammad Yunus celebrates end of Sheikh Hasina’s ‘autocratic government’

Editorji Technologies Pvt. Ltd. © 2022 All Rights Reserved.