#webb

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The James Webb Space Telescope has expanded the data scientists can gather about exoplanets’ atmospheres. 📈 

Prior to Webb, scientists had a more limited understanding of exoplanet atmospheres. Spacecraft like the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes can detect individual molecules, pulling single threads of information that are part of an exoplanet’s intricate atmospheric “tapestry.” 

With Webb’s wavelength coverage and sensitivity, astronomers can now collect larger swaths of data—molecules, atoms, and other atmospheric details—than ever before. Studying a wide range of atmospheric compositions is offering insight into how these distant worlds form, information that scientists can apply as they try to determine how common our own solar system’s history is. 

When scientists used Webb during its early days to study exoplanet WASP-39 b, the telescope parsed the intriguing composition of this distant world’s atmosphere. Among the molecules identified was sulfur dioxide, which was unanticipated and the first-ever detection of this gas in an exoplanet atmosphere. Its presence indicates that light from the host star is driving chemical changes in WASP-39 b’s atmosphere.  

Since then, Webb has investigated various exoplanet atmospheres, including looking at rocky worlds like TRAPPIST-1 b and c. Both of these exoplanets lack substantial atmospheres, raising the question whether rocky planets orbiting red dwarf stars can sustain atmospheres. The Rocky Worlds Director’s Discretionary Time program is using Hubble and Webb to help unravel this current mystery.