In the far reaches of the Solar System, beyond our familiar orbit, the amazing exploration of the cosmos continues. Thanks to the achievements of human engineering, such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, we have witnessed a fascinating discovery: an exoplanet that is the “keychain version” of Neptune.
As the website of Urban Technothis distant planet appears to have a vapor-shrouded atmosphere, presenting conditions similar to our neighbor Neptune, but in a more compact version.
This type of exoplanet, common in the galaxy, offers remarkable similarities with Neptune and has become the object of study for scientists. One of these intriguing planets is GJ 1214 bwhich at first glance appears to have no oceans on its surface due to the concentrated amount of vapor in its atmosphere, suggesting a high-temperature world, incompatible with the presence of liquid water.
According to a study published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, Eliza Kempton, lead author of the research, postulates that this planet could be shrouded in a haze or cloud cover, and Possibly it was originally a watery and frozen world.
The expert analysis
The team of researchers, in addition to making conventional observations through the light emitted by its star, has carried out a meticulous follow-up of the orbit of GJ 1214 b. Thanks to the MIRI instrument of the James Webb telescope, it has been possible to create a heat map of the planet during its journey, revealing that its temperature reaches about 279°C when the star illuminates it, while at night it drops to 165°C.
This dramatic temperature change suggests that the atmosphere of the exoplanet GJ 1214 b is not composed solely of hydrogen molecules, but also water and methane molecules could be found. The scientists point out that this is not the planet’s original atmosphere, but rather that it has likely lost large amounts of hydrogen and been remodeled by water-rich elements.
Also, it should be noted that this planet is brighter than expected, which could shed light on these enigmatic worlds, so different from those found in our own Solar System, but surprisingly common in our galaxy.
