The James Webb space telescope has just zoomed in the atmosphere of a discovery planet in 2020 – and now we have the clearest data of all time on an exoplanet.
The exoplanet status of the clumsily named planet means that it does not organize our sun. (Exoplanets are defined as any planet beyond our solar system.)
Do not expect to travel there so early. It is 244 light years from the earth – as a comparison, the dwarf planet Pluto is only five and a halfhours of us. The planet orbit a star similar to our sun. It is considered a sub-neptune planet because it is larger than the earth, but smaller than Neptune, which is four times greater than the earth.
The planet was discovered by astronomical transit, which means that astronomers have noticed that a star was dimensioned as you-421b passed it into orbit. It is not a celestial body that an amateur can spot, but the best cameras can help you start with astrophotography.
The exoplanet was mapped by a team of NASA astronomers, the European space agency and the Canadian space agency, which worked together to analyze the planet’s atmosphere using a form of study called spectroscopy. By analyzing the light frequencies in the atmosphere of a planet, scientists can determine which elements are present – and which are missing.
The atmosphere of Toui-421b is rich in hydrogen and contains signs of water vapor. But it does not contain signs of methane, which leads to misty atmospheric conditions.
Most sub-neptunic exoplanets have atmospheres wrapped in mist, making them difficult for image. TI-421B was chosen for the project because the initial analysis led scientists to believe that the planet could be precisely and clearly represented by spectroscopic imaging.
Is this planet a “unique snowflake”?
The astronomers team published their results in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, where all the key data in the project is collected in an article. You can read the full writing here.
The spectroscopic images of TOU-421B are accessible in the paper results section, and they brush a table of many strange and exciting properties of the exoplanet.
Other under-native worlds had atmospheres filled with heavy gas which indicated that they were potentially mainly composed of water, but to-421b is composed of light gas-a bit like the star it orbit.
This has raised questions about how different types of stars could potentially affect the atmospheres of their orbit planets. In a statement to Mashable, Eliza Kempton, the main study of the study, said that it was something that astronomers should explore more.
“We can see if this planet has proven to be a kind of unique snowflake, or is it emblematic of a class of planets that all have similar properties,” she said.
