To the great excitement of many, the James Webb telescope has done it again: for the first time carbon dioxide has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside our own solar system. – This has been an unprecedented experiment. Something we are very proud of, says Natalie Batalha at the University of California. She has led the project, which consists of 300 researchers from all over the world. The planet is called WASP-39b and is a glowing gas giant. It was first discovered in 2011 and is approximately 700 light years from Earth. Understanding the composition of such planets is crucial to knowing how they first arose and developed, writes NASA in a press release. – Molecules of carbon dioxide are sensitive traces in the history of the formation of planets, says Mike Line. He is an associate professor at Arizona State University’s School. The recent discovery will be published in the renowned journal Nature during the coming week. Says something about how unique our own solar system is. The discovery was made via the super telescope’s infrared spectrograph. This is one of four instruments that make it possible to observe the atmospheres of exoplanets. Such measurements make it possible to find out how much solid matter, as well as how much gas was used in the formation of this planet. And over the next ten years, James Webb will carry out a series of such measurements on several similar planets. – This will also give better insight into what it is that is completely unique about our own solar system, says Mike Line. James Webb has taken new pictures of Jupiter. The images were taken in July and captured, among other things, Jupiter’s northern and southern parts, as well as the great red spot. Photo: James Webb/NASA Pictures out of the ordinary James Webb is a collaboration between Nasa, the European Space Agency, ESA and CSA, which is the Canadian Space Agency. On Christmas Day last year, the telescope was finally launched. The journey to the destination took almost a month. In recent times, people have gained a completely unique insight into the universe. The brand new space telescope can see further than any other instrument, and can literally see all the way back to the dawn of time. – Like reading a poem Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the earth’s atmosphere. As part of the carbon cycle. But the gas is also increasingly emitted by human activities. Scientists believe that finding CO₂ in the atmosphere of other planets is an important step towards finding possible traces of extraterrestrial life. Being able to study the atmospheres of such exoplanets has been a long-awaited area of research, according to NASA. – Discovering such a clear signal of CO₂ on WASP-39b bodes well. It makes it possible to make similar discoveries also on smaller planets that are more similar to Earth, says project leader Batalha. Because it is unlikely that you will find signs of life exactly on this gas giant. Laura Kreidberg is also part of the research group. She works at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. She describes the new discovery as follows: – Seeing the data for the first time was like reading a poem in its entirety, where previously we only had every third word. – Very exciting Mats Carlsson is professor of astronomy at UiO. He says it is exciting that you can now study what such atmospheres contain. The professor is not surprised that carbon dioxide has been found, but says that the new telescope delivers fantastic results. – It is beyond all expectations. One of the main goals of James Webb is to study exoplanets. We have been able to detect them before, but now we can actually study them. And the dream is to find free oxygen, says Carlsson to news. – With the help of these exact measurements, it would have been the dream. If you find free oxygen, you are closer to finding life. The telescope is designed to see far back in time. This allows scientists to get a glimpse of the origin of the universe. Photo: AP More sensitive than you thought Håkon Dahle is a researcher, and is himself involved in a project with the James Webb telescope. He says the new discovery shows that the telescope is more sensitive than they had previously thought. And that, especially in such observations, it gives better signals than expected. – Now the next goal will be to make similar measurements on planets that are more similar to our Earth. WASP-39b has a surface temperature of 900 degrees, and is larger than Jupiter. One hopes to be able to say something about the compositions of planets that are further away from their star. Then the temperatures are more comparable to ours. In addition to finding free oxygen in the atmosphere, Dahle hopes that water can also be discovered. – Liquid clean water is probably a signature of biological activity, says the researcher to news. Here, Håkon Dahle is in a control room at an observatory in Hawaii. The researcher says James Webb has so far delivered far above what was set in advance as a requirement. Photo: H. DAHLE
ttn-69
The James Webb telescope has discovered carbon dioxide outside our own solar system for the very first time – news Trøndelag
