Elain Brown Science 08.18.2022 09:Aug AM EDT

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Is Exploring Clouds of Vaporized Rock and Gems

NASA will now task the James Webb Space Telescope to explore the exoplanets, these hot gas giants that are also known as hot jupiter.

The scientists will now study the materials, metals, and gems that are surrounding these exoplanets to better understand their origin and existence.

The James Webb Space Telescope, is currently focusing its attention on extrasolar planets which are rich in vaporized rock and crystals like corundum and perovskite, which are used to make diamonds on Earth.

A great number of these minerals can be found in jewel-like forms on Earth. According to Space, Tiffany Kataria, scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "A geologist would study them as rocks on Earth. But they can form clouds on exoplanets."

Clouds provide a plethora of information regarding the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

Kataria adds, "It then becomes a question of how the clouds formed, and the formation and evolution of the system as a whole."

NASA's James Webb to Exoplanets

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has begun to deliver its first science images and data.

The atmospheres of some of the most peculiar extrasolar planets discovered so far will be the focus of future observational efforts.

According to NASA, it is expected that the data that can be provided by the James Webb Space Telescope will become one of the most effective approaches to comprehend these atmospheres.

This will not only provide additional knowledge about the planets themselves, but it will also be the first first direct observations ever made of clouds, regardless of how strange or unusual they may look like.

These planets are just one of the various types of exoplanets that have been proved to exist elsewhere in the galaxy. Because they orbit so closely to their stars, the temperatures in their atmospheres are excruciatingly high. As a result, these worlds may feature clouds of melted rock.

The idea of clouds made of rocks, rubies, or sapphires may sound appealing, the discovery that such minerals genuinely exist in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet would represent a significant advance in scientific understanding.

Furthermore, an in-depth investigation of the clouds that surround exoplanets may even find evidence of a planet that is capable of supporting life, such as a modest, rocky globe similar to our own.

NASA Is Studying Clouds on Exoplanets

These exoplanets are hot gas giants that orbit extremely near to their stars. They become so hot that metals, rocky elements, and minerals can exist in their atmosphere.

They become so hot that the temperatures in their atmospheres can reach as high as 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

The presence of minerals of this kind has already been uncovered in the atmospheres of exoplanets.

It was in 2017 that astronomers first discovered the signature of titanium oxide in the atmosphere of a hot Jupiter named WASP-19b using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

After three years had passed, the VLT was able to observe iron vapor on the day-side of the hot Jupiter WASP-76b. The day side of the exoplanet WASP-76b shoots up to a burning 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Although the night side of the planet has a temperature of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, this is nevertheless a temperature low enough for iron to condense and precipitate out as a rain of molten metal.

In the past, certain metals and minerals have been found to be present in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets, although only in trace amounts.

However, using the James Webb Space Telescope will bring a high-resolution imagery that will be able to identify and differentiate these minerals as clouds.