James Webb Space Telescope’s First Look At An Atmosphere On Habitable Zone Exoplanet

James Webb Space Telescope’s First Look At An Atmosphere On Habitable Zone Exoplanet

James Webb Space Telescope’s First Look At An Atmosphere On Habitable Zone Exoplanet An illustration of a habitable zone planet orbiting the star called TRAPPIST – credit NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI) One of the major things that the mightily impressive James Webb Space Telescope was supposed to reveal has now potentially been revealed. Groundbreaking new research from the University of St. Andrews has identified signs of a possible atmosphere surrounding an Earth-sized exoplanet located 40 light years away, raising excitement that habitable conditions beyond our solar system might be detected for the first time. In two separate papers published in early September in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers have shed new light on an exoplanet, TRAPPIST-1e, where liquid water, in the form of a global ocean or icy expanse, might exist on its surface. Located in the red dwarf star system TRAPPIST-1, the planet orbits firmly within the star’s habitable zone. Planet 1e is of particul…