James Webb Space Telescope Detects CO2 on a Distant Planet

NASA has detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a distant planet called WASP-39b using the powerful imaging capabilities afforded by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The space agency describes(Opens in a new window) the finding as “the first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system”—WASP-39b is approximately 700 light-years away—that “provides important insights into the composition and formation of the planet.”

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The evidence of CO2 on WASP-39b was collected via the Near-Infrared Spectrograph(Opens in a new window), which researchers use to suss out the composition of a planet’s atmosphere based on “small differences in brightness of the transmitted light across a spectrum of wavelengths,” on JWST.

Detecting CO2 on WASP-39b could enable further research into how planets come to be, researcher Mike Line said in a statement, because it can be used to “determine how much solid versus how much gaseous material was used to form this gas giant planet.”

JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science team leader Natalie Batalha said in a statement that “detecting such a clear signal of carbon dioxide on WASP-39b bodes well for the detection of atmospheres on smaller, terrestrial-sized planets,” too.

NASA says this information was publicly released as part of the Early Release Science(Opens in a new window) program intended to give researchers access to findings related to the JWST as soon as possible. The research is also said to have been accepted for publication by the Nature science journal.