Thursday 18/May/2023 – 01:37 AM
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope detected signs of water vapor while studying a rocky exoplanetMThe solar system is known as GJ 486 b, according to the Daily Mail.
Planet GJ 486 b
Planet GJ 486 b is about 30% larger than Earth, and its mass is about 2.8 times the mass of our planet, which means that it is rocky with a stronger gravity than Earth. It orbits a red dwarf star in less than 1.5 Earth days, and the planet is expected to be facing its host star due to closure. Tropical or tidally restricted, with a permanent day side and a permanent night side.
It is worth noting that it is very close to its star to be within the habitable zone, as its surface temperature is about 430 degrees Celsius.
James Webb’s observations, using the NIRSpec Near Infrared Spectrometer, show that the rocky exoplanet is about 26 light-years from Earth and appears to contain water vapor.
It could be water vapor from the planet’s atmosphere, in which case it would have to be constantly replenished due to losses from stellar radiation, but a similar possibility says that water vapor is actually from the planet’s cool host star’s outer layer.
The researchers’ observations show that the planet emits water vapor, but does not contain carbon dioxide (CO2). This is an unusual finding, given that carbon dioxide usually makes up one-tenth of the volatiles of water vapor.
Possible explanations for this are that the comet contained carbon dioxide when it formed, but lost it due to warm temperatures, or that it formed in a warm pocket of its solar system where no carbon dioxide was available.
