NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Captures Direct Images of Carbon Dioxide on Distant Planet

NASA’s Webb Space Telescope has achieved a groundbreaking feat by capturing direct images of carbon dioxide on a planet beyond our solar system for the first time. The images feature HR 8799, a multiplanet system located 130 light-years from Earth. This discovery not only reveals the presence of a chemical compound essential for processes like photosynthesis and the carbon cycle on Earth but also suggests that gas giant planets in other parts of the galaxy formed in a similar way to our own Jupiter and Saturn.

The team’s analysis of the Webb imagery, published in The Astrophysical Journal, indicates that the planets in the HR 8799 system have a significant fraction of heavier elements, such as carbon, oxygen, and iron, in their atmospheres. According to William Balmer, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of the study, this suggests that these planets likely formed via core accretion. The HR 8799 system is approximately 30 million years old, making it relatively young in the grand scheme of time, and its planets are still emitting large amounts of infrared light, which is ideal for the Webb Space Telescope to capture.

By analyzing these emissions, scientists can determine how the planets formed and uncover other characteristics of these distant worlds. “Our hope with this kind of research is to understand our own solar system, life, and ourselves in comparison to other exoplanetary systems, so we can contextualize our existence,” Balmer explained. The team aims to take pictures of other solar systems and compare them to our own, allowing us to better understand how unique or ordinary our solar system really is.

Large planets like Jupiter are believed to form in one of two ways: either by developing solid cores that accumulate gas gravitationally or by collapsing quickly into a planet from the disk of cooling material around a young star. Based on their analysis, the team believes that the four planets in HR 8799 formed from the bottom up, and further study of Webb observations could reveal how common this approach to planet formation is.

The Webb Space Telescope has previously detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a distant exoplanet called WASP-39b, but that detection was made indirectly. This latest accomplishment validates the telescope’s ability to spot the gas in distant star systems directly. By studying giant gas planets like those in HR 8799, researchers can gain insight into how these massive planets affect smaller worlds around them, both positively and negatively.

The team’s observations also made the first-ever detection of the system’s innermost planet, demonstrating the capabilities of the Webb Space Telescope. With its multibillion-dollar space observatory collecting vast amounts of data, astrophysicists can now sift through the information to reveal the sources of the oldest light we can see and uncover details of planets that were previously too faint to identify.

Illustration: Melissa Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

The Webb Space Telescope is revolutionizing astrophysical discoveries, and its expected operational lifespan of at least a decade promises years of new insights into planetary formation. As the telescope continues to capture stunning images and collect valuable data, scientists will be able to unravel the mysteries of the universe, one discovery at a time.