Scientists Observe Carbon Dioxide on Planets Outside the Solar System for the First Time

Carbon dioxide has been detected on a planet outside our solar system for the first time. The gas has been observed directly by the James Webb Space Telescope on four exoplanets, all belonging to the HR 8799 system, located 130 light-years from Earth. “By detecting these strong formations of carbon dioxide, we have shown that there is a considerable fraction of heavier elements, such as carbon, oxygen, and iron, in the atmospheres of these planets,” William Balmer, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of the paper, said in a statement to NASA. “Given what we know about the star they orbit, this probably indicates that they formed by core accretion, which, for planets we can see directly, is an exciting conclusion.” HR 8799 is a system that was born 30 million years ago, and so is young compared to our solar system, which has existed for 4.6 billion years. We don’t know yet, but we propose further observations through Webb, inspired by our carbon dioxide diagnostics, to answer this question.” Unlocking the James Webb Space Telescope’s Potential The James Webb Space Telescope should also be given its flowers, as it has shown that it is capable of doing more than inferring the atmospheric composition of exoplanets from measurements of starlight; in fact, it has demonstrated its ability to directly analyze the chemical composition of atmospheres as far away as these.