The James Webb telescope shows how starlight transforms a distant, Jupiter-like planet
The James Webb Space Telescope has identified a rich mix of gases swirling in the skies of a hot, Jupiter-like world orbiting a star that's around 700-light years from Earth.
In addition to carbon dioxide, water, and other molecules, described in a series of new scientific papers published online, researchers say the telescope has spotted signs of sulfur dioxide.
That must have been produced by a chain of chemical reactions in the planet's atmosphere, sparked by light from the Sun-like star that this gas giant planet closely orbits, going around about once every four days.
"That's very exciting," says Jacob Bean, an astronomer at the University of Chicago.
He notes that reactions started by light are an important part of planetary atmospheres. In the Earth's atmosphere, for example, sunlight produces ozone that blocks harmful radiation from reaching the planet's surface. But this kind of chemistry had never been unambiguously observed in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system before.
Understanding how it works on other worlds "is going to be crucial for understanding life on other planets," says Bean.
Scientists have detected thousands of planets orbiting far off stars, almost always indirectly, by staring at stars with telescopes to see how they're affected by the presence of orbiting planets. In most cases, researchers know nothing about the planets other than the worlds' approximate size and distance from the star.
Sometimes, however, they've been able to get clues about planets' atmospheres, by analyzing the starlight that filters through. That's because different molecules absorb different wavelengths of light.
The Hubble Space Telescope, for example, discovered a surprising amount of water vapor in the atmosphere of this particular planet, called WASP-39 b.
So when NASA's new flagship telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in December, scientists were eager to peer at this planet to compare the view provided by their new instruments to what had previously been seen with Hubble.
"The Hubble observations have been confirmed, but we've gone so much deeper in understanding of this planet by revealing all these different molecules and being able to characterize their abundances much more precisely, and then to see things that we didn't really expect," says Bean.
"For example, the sulfur dioxide, that's not something we ever had a chance of seeing with Hubble," says Bean. "But it was quite easy and it just sort of fell out of these first James Webb observations."
In addition to detecting a host of different molecules in the atmosphere, astronomers also saw signs that this planet has a patchy, scattered cloud cover, he adds.
"It's not fully clouded over," says Bean. "It's always wonderful when we can learn something new about one of these kinds of planets that allows me to create, at least in my head, a better mental picture of what the planet looks like."
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Teleskopi ya anga ya James Webb imegundua mchanganyiko wa gesi nyingi zinazozunguka anga la sayari ya Jupita iliyo karibu na dunia. Kwa kuongezea kaboni dioksidi, maji na molekuli nyingine zilizoelezwa katika safu ya karatasi mpya za kisayansi zilizochapishwa mtandaoni, watafiti wanasema darubini hiyo imegundua ishara za dioksidi ya sulfuri. "Hiyo ni lazima iwe ilitokana na mfululizo wa athari za kemikali katika angahewa la sayari, iliyochochewa na mwanga kutoka kwa nyota kama Jua ambayo sayari hii kubwa ya gesi inazunguka kwa karibu, ikizunguka karibu mara moja kila siku nne. """ "Hilo ni jambo lenye kusisimua sana", asema Jacob Bean, mtaalamu wa nyota katika Chuo Kikuu cha Chicago. Anasema kwamba athari zinazosababishwa na nuru ni sehemu muhimu ya angahewa za sayari. Kwa mfano, katika angahewa la dunia, mwangaza wa jua hutokeza ozoni ambayo huzuia mnururisho wenye kudhuru usifike kwenye uso wa sayari. Lakini aina hii ya kemia haijawahi kuonekana waziwazi katika angahewa la sayari nje ya mfumo wetu wa jua. Kuelewa jinsi inavyofanya kazi kwenye sayari nyingine "itakuwa muhimu sana kwa kuelewa uhai kwenye sayari nyingine", asema Bean. Wanasayansi wamegundua maelfu ya sayari zinazozunguka nyota mbali, karibu mara zote kwa njia isiyo ya moja kwa moja, kwa kutazama nyota kwa darubini ili kuona jinsi zinavyoathiriwa na uwepo wa sayari zinazozunguka. Katika visa vingi, watafiti hawajui chochote kuhusu sayari hizo isipokuwa ukubwa wa sayari hizo na umbali wake kutoka kwa nyota. Hata hivyo, nyakati nyingine, wameweza kupata habari kuhusu angahewa la sayari kwa kuchanganua nuru ya nyota inayopita ndani yake. Hiyo ni kwa sababu molekuli tofauti hufyonza urefu tofauti wa mawimbi ya nuru. Kwa mfano, darubini ya Hubble iligundua kiasi kikubwa cha mvuke wa maji katika angahewa la sayari hiyo inayoitwa WASP-39b. Kwa hiyo, wakati darubini mpya ya NASA, James Webb Space Telescope, ilipozinduliwa Desemba, wanasayansi walikuwa na hamu ya kuchunguza sayari hii ili kulinganisha maoni yaliyotolewa na vyombo vyao vipya na yale yaliyokuwa yameonekana hapo awali na Hubble. """Uchunguzi wa Hubble umethibitishwa, lakini tumeenda zaidi katika kuelewa sayari hii kwa kufunua molekuli hizi zote tofauti na kuweza kuelezea wingi wao kwa usahihi zaidi, na kisha kuona mambo ambayo hatukutazamia,"" anasema Bean." "Kwa mfano, dioksidi ya sulfuri, hiyo si kitu ambacho tulikuwa na nafasi ya kuona na Hubble", anasema Bean. "Lakini ilikuwa rahisi sana na ni aina tu ya akaanguka nje ya haya ya kwanza James Webb uchunguzi. " "Aidha, wataalamu wa nyota walipata ishara kwamba sayari hiyo ina mawingu mengi, ""alisema." "Hakuna mawingu kabisa", asema Bean. "Ni mara nyingi ajabu wakati tunaweza kujifunza kitu kipya kuhusu moja ya aina hizi za sayari ambayo inaruhusu mimi kuunda, angalau katika kichwa changu, picha bora ya akili ya jinsi sayari inaonekana.""" Copyright 2021 NPR Kwa maelezo zaidi, tembelea www.nl.org.