Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered water vapor in the atmosphere of a small exoplanet. “Water on such a small planet is a groundbreaking discovery,” reports Laura Kreidberg of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg.
“It brings us closer than ever before to characterizing truly Earth-like worlds,” says Kreidberg. The planet with the catalog name GJ9827d is 97 light-years away from our Earth and is only twice as large.
According to the MPIA researchers, it is the smallest exoplanet where water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere so far. However, it is still unclear whether it is a small amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or whether it consists mainly of water.
Water world or mini Neptune
With a Venus-like temperature of 400 degrees, the planet would definitely be an inhospitable, humid, hot world if its atmosphere were mostly water vapor, experts say. There are currently two possibilities: either the planet clings to a hydrogen-rich shell – comparable to a small Neptune. Or it’s half water and half rock – something like a warmer version of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Looking for traces of water and other molecules, astronomers recently observed the planet GJ9827d with the James Webb Space Telescope. “We can’t wait to see what this data reveals,” Kreidberg said. “Hopefully we can now settle the issue of the water worlds once and for all.”
The telescope has been orbiting the Earth since 1990
The Hubble Telescope was jointly developed by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). Since its launch in April 1990, Hubble has revolutionized astronomy with breathtaking images from space.
His images of the planets in our solar system, but also of distant galaxies, supernova explosions and planetary nebulae, have given laypeople a completely unexpected view of the universe.
Source: Krone
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