Scientists Observe Carbon Dioxide On Planets Outside The Solar System For The First Time

Source: See here

Headlines:

Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology

Astronomers have identified a bright hydrogen emission from a galaxy in the very early universe. The surprise finding is challenging researchers to explain how this light could have pierced the thick fog of neutral hydrogen ...

The last time a new class of antibiotics reached the market was nearly three decades ago—but that could soon change, thanks to a discovery by researchers at McMaster University.

The Field Museum in Chicago and the Foundation for Scientific Advancement reported that sediment-encased maturation of pine resin produces a hardened, translucent substance that closely mimics natural copal and amber in appearance, ...

Reference: Found here

#news

Carbon dioxide has been detected on a planet outside our solar system for the first time. The gas has been observed directly by the James Webb Space Telescope on four exoplanets , all belonging to the HR 8799 system, located 130 light-years from Earth. The detection of CO 2 offers clues as to how distant planets form, with the observations providing strong evidence that these four giant planets formed in much the same way as Jupiter and Saturn , through the slow formation of solid cores. The findings were published in the most recent issue of The Astronomical Journal.

"By detecting these strong formations of carbon dioxide, we have shown that there is a considerable fraction of heavier elements, such as carbon, oxygen, and iron, in the atmospheres of these planets," William Balmer, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of the paper, said in a statement to NASA . "Given what we know about the star they orbit, this probably indicates that they formed by core accretion, which, for planets we can see directly, is an exciting conclusion."

Plus, because CO 2 condenses into tiny ice particles in the deep cold of space, its presence can shed light on planetary formation. Jupiter and Saturn are thought to have formed through a process in which a bunch of tiny icy particles coalesced to form a solid core, which then absorbed gas to grow into the gas giants we know today.

The James Webb Space Telescope should also be given its flowers, as it has shown that it is capable of doing more than inferring the atmospheric composition of exoplanets from measurements of starlight; in fact, it has demonstrated its ability to directly analyze the chemical composition of atmospheres as far away as these.

Normally, the JWST can barely detect an exoplanet as it crosses in front of its host star, due to the great distance that separates us. But on this occasion, direct observation was made possible by the JWST's coronagraphs—instruments that block starlight to reveal otherwise hidden worlds.