Water vapor was spotted near the rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b. That could indicate the presence of water in its atmosphere, or it could also be from another source.
The hunt for habitable exoplanets is on, and with the James Webb Space Telescope, we finally have a tool that can not only detect the presence of a planet in another star system, but can also look at the composition of its atmosphere. That ability will eventually allow us to find Earth-like planets wthat are good candidates for searching for life, but measuring the atmosphere of something so far away isn’t an easy matter.
The planet GJ 486 b is rocky, a bit larger than Earth, and more massive, so it would have heavier gravity than we experience. And the star it orbits is quite different from our sun, as it is a type called a red dwarf, which is a dim, cool star that is approaching the end of its life. The planet is close enough to the star, orbiting in just 1.5 days, that its surface temperature would be around 800 degrees Fahrenheit, so it isn’t in the habitable zone where liquid water can exist on the surface.
Related Videos “We see a signal and it’s almost certainly due to water. But we can’t tell yet if that water is part of the planet’s atmosphere, meaning the planet has an atmosphere, or if we’re just seeing a water signature coming from the star,” explained Sarah Moran of the University of Arizona, lead author of the research, in a statement.
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