NASA finds first ever definitive evidence of carbon dioxide on a planet outside our solar system
An artist's rendition of WASP-39b. Photo: NASA
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been on an universe discovery spree. In the latest, the telescope found undeniable evidence of carbon dioxide on an exoplanet. This is the first time ever, that the Earthlings have discovered definitive evidence of carbon dioxide on a planet outside our solar system, called WASP-39 b.
"As soon as the data appeared on my screen, the whopping carbon dioxide feature grabbed me. It was a special moment, crossing an important threshold in exoplanet sciences," NASA quoted Zafar Rustamkulov, a student at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the JWST team that undertook the investigation.
Our JWST Transiting Exoplanet Early Release Science Team is proud to report on the detection of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-39b. Press release and a thread 🧵 ...
— Natalie Batalha (@nbatalha) August 25, 2022
https://t.co/XpAxZMg4PG pic.twitter.com/nFCMT3jVBZ
Why are we excited about finding carbon dioxide? You must be wondering how carbon dioxide is helpful to humans; it's not as if the James Webb Telescope found oxygen.
There are 5 reasons to celebrate this new discovery:
1. We have never found definitive evidence of carbon dioxide on an exoplanet ever before. In 2006, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found hints of carbon dioxide on an exoplanet called HD 189733b, but the findings were not published in a journal. The findings of the James Webb telescope will be published in Nature.
2. The discovery suggests the James Webb Telescope is capable of detecting things that no other observatory has ever measured before.
Look at that data!🤩 @NASAWebb has made a direct observation of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere! WASP-39b is a gas giant 700 light-years away. Detecting CO2 there means Webb can similarly probe the atmospheres of smaller, rocky planets. 😍https://t.co/tEhaAjbMnO pic.twitter.com/01tvuJCH4c
— NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanets) August 25, 2022
3. The ability of the James Webb Telescope to measure the "subtle differences in brightness of so many individual colors across the 3 to 5.5-micron range in an exoplanet transmission spectrum" means it will be able to detect water and methane in the future, which is thought to exist in different exoplanets.
"Detecting such a clear signal of carbon dioxide on WASP-39 b bodes well for the detection of atmospheres on smaller, terrestrial-sized planets," the NASA article quoted Natalie Batalha, University of California at Santa Cruz, who leads the team.
4. Finding what gases and how much mass a planet is made of tells the story of its origins and formation. Mike Line of Arizona State University, a member of the research team said, "Carbon dioxide molecules are sensitive tracers of the story of planet formation."
5. The most interesting part is that such discoveries are touted to be important steps in looking for extraterrestrial life using "chemical biotracers of life as we know it".
We know since school that cows take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. In reality, all living beings, including humans, exhale some amount of oxygen. So, the discovery of carbon dioxide on an exoplanet could mean that there are gases similar to those that help our survival on planet Earth.
But no, there are no cows on the WASP-39 b, or any other form of life.
What we know about WASP-39 b: WASP-29 b is by no means hospitable to life. It is 700 light years away from planet Earth, orbiting a distant star. It is said to have the mass same as Saturn and a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter. It is also very close to its star, making the temperature on the planet soar 900 degree Celsius.
For 8 hours, JWST watched the star, measuring its brightness and waiting for it to be eclipsed by the planet WASP-39b. This is the “transit” technique used by NASA’s Kepler and TESS missions to find exoplanets, with one key difference. pic.twitter.com/v2MroIHoAE
— Natalie Batalha (@nbatalha) August 25, 2022
The planet was found in 2011 and NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have found the presence of water vapor, sodium, and potassium in the planet's atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is a molecule that under the right mix is related to biological activity like it does on Earth. So, finding absolute evidence of CO2 is the first chapter in exploring the atmosphere of the exoplanet.