JWST: Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere

https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.11692

by sanketpatrikar • 4 years ago

149 68 4 years ago

arxiv.org

mysterydip2• 4 years ago

CO2 is an indicator of the metal enrichment (i.e., elements heavier than helium, also called "metallicity")

I'm confused; aren't literally all but one of the elements heavier than helium?

astrolx2• 4 years ago

Yes, everything heavier than hydrogen and helium is called metals by astronomers. It's a misleading term for the public, but very widely employed.

(I'm an astronomer)

kzrdude2• 4 years ago

So it's a three-element periodic table: Hydrogen, Helium, Metals. :)

jacquesm4• 4 years ago

Doesn't this have to do with the formation of those elements? As in 'anything heavier than helium is a metal because it was formed in the explosion of a first generation star'? Rather than the chemical definition of what a metal is they probably should have used '2nd generation or later elements' but then again, computer programmers call little boxes with wires attached to them 'mice' and nobody bats an eye (and in fact, that use has now become commonplace).

MauranKilom• 4 years ago

Giving rise to this parody of sorts:

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2340:_Cosmologist...

sgt1012• 4 years ago

I would like them to find methane & oxygen in an atmosphere. I don't have a clue really, but I think that would be pretty convincing evidence of life. I expect that they are busy looking and we will get a result like that in the not too distant future - if the JWST can do it and if such atmospheres do exist in substantial numbers.

wongarsu• 4 years ago

Exactly. Detecting CO2 is cool, but it's very stable and found in lots of places. Finding more reactive gases would be more exciting, because that might imply they're being replenished from somewhere, presumably either geological processes or life. And some gasses like oxygen don't really get produced by geological processes.

teaearlgraycold• 4 years ago

Make it oxygen, methane and water and I’ll happily consider alien life discovered.

selimthegrim• 4 years ago

They found water vapor too according to NYT.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/science/space/webb-telesc...

nickff2• 4 years ago

Methane has been detected on Mars, and is not regarded as proof of ‘life’. In addition to bacteriological sources of methane, it can be produced through geochemical processes. I am not sure which, if any atmospheric gasses would be proof-of-life.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_on_Mars

mohaine• 4 years ago

I’m pretty sure lot of gasses would, just not the natural ones. CFCs and many other man made gasses have no viable non-alive natural sources.

HPsquared• 4 years ago

There's also a LOT of methane on Saturn's moon Titan.

GordonS2• 4 years ago

For anyone else curious, the planet in question is WASP-39b, which is a long way away. From Wikipedia:

"WASP-39b is in the Virgo constellation, and is about 700 light-years from Earth"

maxnoe• 4 years ago

While the statement is obviously true, relatively speaking 700 light years is pretty close when it comes to star systems.

It's only ~20 times further away than the closest star.

GordonS2• 4 years ago

Yes, it's "close" in galactic terms, but in human terms it might as well be 7 million light years away.

Aperocky• 4 years ago

Correction, about 175 times further away.

FL33TW00D• 4 years ago

For everyone imagining an industrial revolution 700 light years away - unfortunately WASP-39b isn't well suited:

"WASP-39 b is a hot, puffy gas-giant planet with a mass 0.28 times Jupiter (0.94 times Saturn) and a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter, orbiting just 0.0486 astronomical units (4,500,000 miles) from its star"

jcims2• 4 years ago

It's diameter is ~112k miles, or roughly 2% of the distance to its star. It's hard to imagine the amount of chaos in that atmosphere. I would think all of the churn from the gravitational gradient would end up effectively tidally locking it?

jacquesm4• 4 years ago

That could work both for and against life.

anonporridge2• 4 years ago

Why would the presence of CO2 in the atmosphere ever be used to assume an industrial revolution in any scenario?

The atmosphere of both Mars and Venus are 95% CO2. Earth had plenty of CO2 before humans even existed. In fact, there were periods hundreds of millions of years ago where Earth had drastically more CO2 (up to 9000ppm vs 420ppm today) than it does today.

addaon• 4 years ago

"Assume" is a strong word, but if we observed an exoplanet with free oxygen in the atmosphere and stable levels of bioindicators (methane etc) for a period, and then saw CO2 spike from nearly zero to significantly higher levels... well, it's evidence of something.

JWST: Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere

Related Stories