The detection of the dioxide in distant exoplanets is an important step forward in the search for worlds possibly friendly to the development of life.
The James Webb Space Telescope has for the first time detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, specifically WASP-39b, a hot gas giant orbiting a star like our Sun, about 700 light-years from Earth.
Carbon dioxide is a key component of the Earth’s atmosphere and, among other things, is associated with the “greenhouse effect” and climate change. The detection of the dioxide in distant exoplanets is an important step forward in the search for worlds possibly friendly to the development of life.
The researchers, who made a pre-publication to follow in a regular scientific publication in “Nature” next week, said it was “the first time carbon dioxide has been clearly detected on a planet outside the solar system.”
WASP-39b moves very close to its star, at one-eighth of the Sun-Mercury distance, so the exoplanet has a temperature of about 900 degrees Celsius. Because of this high heat, the exoplanet’s atmosphere expands, making the exoplanet about 35% larger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.
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