It's a startling discovery that raises a ton of questions.
that NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected water vapor near a rocky exoplanet that is highly unlikely to have an atmosphere.
It's a startling discovery that raises more questions than it can answer. For instance, does the presence of water vapor indicate that the rocky exoplanet dubbed GJ 486 b has an atmosphere — or could the vapor be coming from the planet's much cooler host star? It's a particularly intriguing finding, since to date, no rocky planet of this sort has been found to definitively have an atmosphere. And regardless, the Webb just keeps delivering the goods.GJ 486 b orbits its host star every 1.5 Earth days, which means it's far too close to be within the star's habitable zone, a region where the presence of liquid water is theoretically possible.
That also means it's incredibly hot, with experts estimating its surface temperature to be around 800 degrees Fahrenheit. This kind of heat makes the existence of an atmosphere unlikely, unless it's somehow able to continually replenish itself as its nearby host star blasts it with radiation.
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