Webb found its strongest case yet of a rocky exoplanet with an atmosphere

May 9 2024 by Mashable

 

The search for a rocky world swaddled in a protective atmosphere somewhere else in space has eluded scientists, but the James Webb Space Telescope has found a strong case.

Webb, the leading infrared observatory run by NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies, has taken a closer look at super-Earth 55 Cancri e, an exoplanet blanketed in either carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide just 41 light-years away.

But to call it an "Earth-like world" would be misleading. Discovered 13 years ago in...

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