James Webb telescope detects CO₂ outside the solar system

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected carbon dioxide from a planet outside the Solar System for the first time. The discovery is made in HR 8799, a system of four giant planets 130 light-years from Earth. And they conclude that these planets were created similar to Jupiter and Saturn through the slow accumulation of solid nuclei. In addition, the James Webb Telescope has been shown to be capable of directly studying the chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres.

Few exoplanets are directly observed, as the light from such distant planets is thousands of times weaker than that of their stars. In this case, they have been able to make observations thanks to the coronographs of the James Webb telescope. Coronographs block the light of bright stars, as occurs during a solar eclipse, thus revealing worlds that would otherwise be hidden. This has allowed them to study the infrared light of the planets of the HR 8799 system at wavelengths representing specific gases and other atmospheric details.

An analysis of the characteristics of carbon dioxide has led to the conclusion that heavier elements, such as carbon, oxygen and iron, are also abundant in the atmospheres of these planets. And from this they conclude that these planets were created by core accretion.

The work has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.