Crystals Discovered in Atmosphere of Giant Planet by James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope has become a crucial component of NASA’s space exploration efforts following the Hubble Space Telescope. It provides researchers with the ability to detect planets, celestial objects, and galaxies that are located thousands of light years away. Remarkably, this telescope can even peer back in time to nearly the moment of the Big Bang, billions of years ago. Recently, it made a groundbreaking discovery by reaching 1300 light-years away from Earth and identifying minuscule quartz crystals in the high-altitude clouds of WASP-17 b, an exoplanet similar to Jupiter. To learn more about this exciting new finding, click here.

The James Webb telescope captures quartz nanocrystals

Silicon dioxide (SiO2) particles have been detected in the exoplanet’s atmosphere for the first time by the Webb telescope in the high clouds of WASP-17 b, 1,300 light-years away, according to a NASA report. The detailed study is published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, and author David Grant said: “We knew from the Hubble observations that WASP-17 b’s atmosphere must have aerosols – tiny particles that form clouds or fog – but we didn’t expect them to be made of quartz. .”

The discovery was recorded by the James Webb Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which helped scientists study WASP-17b. The exoplanet has some mystical properties, as it has seven times the mass of Jupiter, and is described by NASA as “one of the largest and most bloated exoplanets known.” WASP-17b is composed largely of hydrogen and helium, similar to Jupiter. In addition, MIRI’s analysis identified the absorption signature of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and pure quartz crystals at a wavelength of 8.6 microns. The crystal has a sharp hexagonal prism structure, each measuring 10 nanometers.

These quartz crystals are composed of silica, which is a combination of silicon and oxygen. The composition of the scientific notation is called common because Space.com reports that most of the elemental components of rocky celestial bodies in the Solar System are composed of silica. and these elements have previously been identified in the atmospheres of hot Jupiter exoplanets.

Co-author Hannah Wakeford of the University of Bristol said they expected to see magnesium silicates, but they are witnessing the early stages of silicate grain formation, which later form the larger silicate grains seen in cooler exoplanets and brown dwarfs.