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Salon
Salon
Science
Nicole Karlis

INSANE: Webb sees water vapor on another planet | Vintage Vibes

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star on July 12, 2022 in space. The observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb's unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

On Tuesday, a team of NASA astronomers revealed the first much-anticipated images taken by the groundbreaking James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

From a full infrared image of the distant universe to a dazzling image of the Carina Nebula, the world was not disappointed. Besides the awe-inspiring images, Earthlings got a sneak peek into the kind of science JWST will be conducting as it searches for habitable exoplanets in the universe. Indeed, astronomers revealed the most detailed measurements of an exoplanet's atmosphere outside of our solar system to date —  and it appears that there are indications of water, haze and clouds in the planet's atmosphere that weren't previously known.

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