Webb Telescope Captures First Direct Evidence of Carbon Dioxide on an Exoplanet

NASA’s Webb Space Telescope has captured direct images of carbon dioxide in a planet beyond our solar system for the first time. The images feature HR 8799, a multiplanet system 130 light-years from Earth. The discovery not only reveals a chemical compound essential on Earth for processes including photosynthesis and the carbon cycle, but also indicates that gas giant planets elsewhere in the galaxy formed in a similar way to our local giants, Jupiter and Saturn. The team’s analysis of the Webb imagery was published today in The Astrophysical Journal. “By spotting these strong carbon dioxide features, we have shown there is a sizable fraction of heavier elements, such as carbon, oxygen, and iron, in these planets’ atmospheres,” said William Balmer, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of the study, in a university release. “Given what we know about the star they orbit, that likely indicates they formed via core accretion.” The HR 8799 system is roughly 30 mi ... Read full article.