Scientists Observe Carbon Dioxide on Planets Outside the Solar System for the First Time
1 min read
Summary
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected carbon dioxide on four exoplanets for the first time.
The gas offers clues as to how these distant planets formed.
Observations provided strong evidence that the gas giants of the HR 8799 system in which they were found formed in a similar way to Jupiter and Saturn, via the slow formation of solid cores.
The planets are young, having only been born 30 million years ago compared to our solar system’s 4.6 billion years, and so provide valuable data on how they formed compared to stars and brown dwarfs.
Carbon dioxide is a key ingredient for life on Earth, so its presence can shed light on whether life exists elsewhere in the universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope used its coronagraphs to block out starlight and reveal the infrared light wavelengths coming from the planets.
