Webb Space Telescope Expected to Reveal a New Exoplanet Photo

At some point things were destined to settle down in the glassed-in mission control room at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md. For much of this year, the Institute has been the center of the astronomical world. After all, it is there that each image captured by the new James Webb Space Telescope first arrives, including the dazzling batch received and released in July. But the real work the Institute team does—analyzing the scientific data embedded in the pictures— is quieter, less flashy stuff. Still, this week, as NASA reports, that quiet was broken by a new analysis of one of the July images. And, as TIME has just learned, Webb will stir even more excitement soon with a much-anticipated first-of-its-kind photo release. Together, the STScI team’s continued photo analysis will tell us more than ever about solar systems beyond our own—and the possibility that life could exist there. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] To begin, this week STScI researchers announced that Webb had taken a big step in its search for biology’s chemical fingerprints on distant exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars): the discovery of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet known as WASP-39 b. It marks the first clear detection of CO2 in the atmosphere of any planet outside of the eight that circle our own sun. WASP-39 b is what astronomers rather unscientifically refer to as a puffy planet, with a diameter 1.3 times that o...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Space Source Type: news