The James Webb Space Telescope NASA It was launched into space in 2021, and since then it has allowed us to observe different celestial bodies residing in different regions of the universe and helped solve great mysteries of science.
What was the great puzzle that the James Webb telescope helped to solve?
A few days ago two different research groups were able to solve the question Why is the gas giant exoplanet WASP-107 b so bloated? Data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope and combined with older data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Composed of a relatively small mass of hydrogen and helium gas, the first research indicates that the planet WASP-107 b has the largest core in the universe. The scientists of this research explained the large radius of the planet and its low density due to the tidal effect and gravitational attraction caused by the proximity of its main star, because its orbit is not perfectly circular.
«“Based on its radius, mass, age and internal temperature, we thought that WASP-107 b has a very small rocky core surrounded by hydrogen and helium.” Arizona State University (ASU) researcher Louise Wellbanks explained ArticleA Report From NASA.
On the other hand, the second study showed that the planet has little methane in its atmosphere, indicating that most of it is inside, making it a planet with a hot surface, with an internal temperature of 460 K, which is approximately 187°. C.
«Methane is unstable at high temperatures. “We’ve found very little, and although we’ve found other carbon-containing molecules, that suggests the planet’s interior must be significantly hotter than we thought.” Mentioned David Singh, lead author of one of the two Investigation and a member of the Johns Hopkins University, NASA report.
What method did they use to solve this great scientific puzzle?
These results were made possible by James Webb’s sensitivity to capturing and measuring the planets’ atmospheric light using transmission spectroscopy. Starlight.
The method was performed with the near-infrared (NIRCam) and mid-infrared (MIRI) cameras of the James Webb Space Telescope and the Wide-Field Camera (WFC3) of the Hubble Space Telescope.
The data obtained allowed the identification and measurement of a large number of molecules in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b, such as water, methane, carbon dioxide and monoxide, sulfur dioxide and ammonia. Internal temperature and core mass are basic data for both investigations.
These two scientific papers, individually and simultaneously together, demonstrate the outstanding capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope, which has become NASA’s premier science laboratory and will be used in the future to solve many mysteries of the universe.
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