Exoplanets
Present circumstances:
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reports that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered its first entirely new exoplanet.
- The planet, also known as LHS 475 b, is around the same size as Earth, according to NASA. The planet is only 41 light-years away, orbits a red dwarf star quite closely, and makes one full rotation in just under two days.
- The exoplanet WASP-39b provided the first-ever evidence of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet’s atmosphere, according to JSWT.
What are exoplanets?
- Exoplanets are planets that exist outside of our solar system and orbit different stars.
- According to NASA, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered thus far. Scientists believe that there are more planets than stars in the universe since every star has at least one planet surrounding it.
- Extrasolar planets come in a variety of different sizes. They can be as massive as gas giants the size of Jupiter or as little and rocky as the Earth. In addition, they are known to have a wide temperature range, from bitterly cold to scorching hot.
Why and how do we study them?
- Why: ? Exoplanet research advances our understanding of other solar systems while also helping us to comprehend how our own solar system and planetary system came to be.
- The strongest case for finding out whether life exists or might exist on other planets, though.
- How? In order to understand an exoplanet’s qualities, scientists look at its mass, diameter, and determine whether it is solid, gaseous, or even possesses water vapour in its atmosphere.
- One of the most important aspects of the inquiry is determining the separation between an exoplanet and its home star.
- This helps researchers determine if a planet they have found is habitable or not.
- If an exoplanet is too close to the star, it might be too hot for liquid water to exist there. Depending on how far away it is, it might only contain frozen water.
- When a planet’s distance from the sun enables it to support liquid water, this is referred to as being in the “Goldilocks zone.”
- Since the Webb telescope is the only one capable of characterising the atmospheres of planets the size of Earth orbiting distant stars, scientists hope that their understanding of exoplanets will improve as a result of its launch.
How exactly are exoplanets discovered?
- According to NASA, it is challenging to locate exoplanets since they are small and obscured by their blazing home stars.
- One of the indirect ways employed by scientists is the transit method, which entails “measuring the dimming of a star that just so happens to have a planet pass in front of it.”
What are red dwarf stars?
- Recently discovered exoplanet orbits a red dwarf star. These are the most common and smallest stars in the cosmos.
- They don’t release much light, thus it is very challenging to see them with the human eye from Earth. It is easier to find exoplanets that orbit red dwarf stars since they are fainter than other stars. As a result, planet hunters prefer to search red dwarfs.
- It was launched on December 20, 2021, from the ESA’s launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana, as an infrared space observatory.
- It has a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. As a result, it will build upon and supplement the discoveries made by the Hubble Space Telescope thanks to a larger wavelength coverage and noticeably improved sensitivity.
- The longer wavelengths allow Webb to go far closer to the beginning of time and hunt for the undetected formation of the first galaxies, in addition to looking into dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are presently emerging.
- International collaboration is taking place on this project between the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, and ESA (the European Space Agency) (CSA).
- It is The second Lagrange point (L2), a point in space close to Earth that lies opposite from the sun, is where the telescope is situated in a solar orbit. The telescope may orbit the sun in line with Earth thanks to this orbit. It has proven to be a helpful position for other space telescopes including the Herschel Space Telescope and the Planck Space Observatory.
GOALS:
- Keep an eye out for the earliest galaxies or brilliant objects to form after the Big Bang.
- Find out how galaxies have changed since they first appeared.
- Observe the development of stars, from their early stages to the formation of planetary systems.
- Check whether there is a probability for life by measuring the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems, such as our own Solar System.
- to investigate the atmospheres of various exoplanets.
- Scientists are searching for atmospheres that mirror Earth’s as well as indications of significant elements including methane, water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and complex organic molecules in an effort to find the building blocks of life.
JWST’s anticipated positive effects include:
- We now have a great deal of accurate knowledge about our cosmos thanks to developments in telescope technology over the past century, which have affected all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, not just the visible range. which the Webb telescope, with its cutting-edge machinery, gives a unique opportunity.
- As the primary method through which astrophysicists discover the universe is through electromagnetic radiation. The full range of wavelengths, from extremely long radio waves to visible light to extremely brief gamma rays, are covered by these light-speed waves.
- JWST will build on the discoveries made by the Hubble Space Telescope by encompassing additional wavelengths and having noticeably higher sensitivity. JWST is an infrared telescope with a huge 6.5-meter primary mirror.
- As Infrared radiation has an advantage over visible light in that it can more easily pass through dust clouds. It can now see past the dust clouds that cover the regions where stars and planets are formed.
- As a result, it also produces a sizable amount of spectroscopic data, some of which reveal the chemical composition of the source of the radiation. By examining the chemical makeup of exoplanets and planets orbiting other stars, it might be possible to determine whether life as we know it is possible on these faraway worlds.
- It is also predicted that JWST will provide us with space data throughout the course of its lifetime to help in understanding some of the myriad cosmic mysteries that are not now directly detectable, such as dark matter and dark energy.
