Decoding the Colors

The Webb Space Telescope is giving scientists a close look at the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system

- By Ed Browne

WHILE THE JAMES WEBB SPACE Telescope woos the world with its clear images of unfathomably distant galaxies and nebulae, it has also showcased its ability to detect atmospheric gases on other planets and play a key part in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

On July 12, NASA released a suite of images taken by Webb, representing its first publicly available proper cosmic snapshots since it was launched back in December. The photos included an image of the distant galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever taken, as well as shots of the Southern Ring Nebula, the Carina Nebula, and the Stephan’s Quintet galaxy group.

But the dataset also included information about WASP-96 b, a planet that orbits a sun-like star roughly 1,150 light-years away in the constellation Phoenix. Planets that exist outside of the solar system are called exoplanets.

In a single observation, scientists used Webb to peer at the distant world and study the starlight that shone through its atmosphere as it orbited its nearest star.