![]() The night side is colder than the day side.” In fact, the temperatures shifted from 535 to 326 degrees Fahrenheit (from 279 to 165 degrees Celsius). “There’s a lot of contrast between day and night. “The ability to get a full orbit was really critical to understand how the planet distributes heat from the day side to the night side,” Kempton said. The heat map revealed – just before the planet’s orbit carried it behind the star, and as it emerged on the other side – both its day and night sides, unveiling details of the atmosphere’s composition. Using MIRI, the research team was able to create a kind of “heat map” of the planet as it orbited the star. The observation demonstrates the power of Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which views wavelengths of light outside the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that human eyes can see. To penetrate such a thick barrier, the research team took a chance on a novel approach: In addition to making the standard observation – capturing the host star’s light that has filtered through the planet’s atmosphere – they tracked GJ 1214 b through nearly its entire orbit around the star. “The atmosphere just remained totally hidden from us until this observation.” She noted that, if indeed water-rich, the planet could have been a “water world,” with large amounts of watery and icy material at the time of its formation. “The planet is totally blanketed by some sort of haze or cloud layer,” said Eliza Kempton, a researcher at the University of Maryland and lead author of a new paper, published in Nature, on the planet. It’s the closest look yet at the mysterious world, a “mini-Neptune” that was largely impenetrable to previous observations.Īnd while the planet, called GJ 1214 b, is too hot to harbor liquid-water oceans, water in vaporized form still could be a major part of its atmosphere. On Whatsapp channel, Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram.NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has observed a distant planet outside our solar system – and unlike anything in it – to reveal what is likely a highly reflective world with a steamy atmosphere. With further observations, researchers hope to unravel more secrets surrounding these intriguing celestial bodies.įollow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews, also keep up with us ![]() Initial measurements indicate that they share resemblances with a scaled-down version of our own Neptune. Kempton attributed this discrepancy to the planet's unusually reflective atmosphere, which reflects a substantial portion of its parent star's light instead of absorbing it, preventing the planet from becoming hotter.ĭubbed "Mini-Neptunes" or "sub-Neptunes," these types of planets are the most prevalent in the galaxy but remain enigmatic to us due to their absence within our solar system. Surprisingly, GJ1214b was found to be relatively cooler than anticipated by human standards. Consequently, the planet's atmosphere does not predominantly consist of lighter hydrogen molecules. Kempton further explained that such a significant temperature shift is only possible in an atmosphere primarily composed of heavier molecules like water or methane, which exhibit similar characteristics when observed via MIRI. The temperature readings ranged from 279 to 165 degrees Celsius. This technique generated a "heat map" of the planet, which unveiled both its illuminated day side and the obscured night side. In addition to capturing the filtered light from the planet's atmosphere as it passed in front of its host star, they utilised the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to track GJ1214b throughout the majority of its orbit. To overcome the challenge of penetrating such a dense barrier, the research team adopted an innovative approach. Her findings were published in the journal Nature. ![]() ![]() Kempton speculated that, during its formation, GJ1214b might have been a "water world" containing substantial amounts of icy and watery materials if it indeed boasted a water-rich composition.
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