For nearly a year astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to study GJ 1214b , a “ super - Earth ” exoplanet that is settle about 42 loose years away in the Ophiuchus configuration . These observations have allowed scientist to delineate the atmospheric state , and for GJ 1214b the forecast is highly mirky . The answer come from a squad of astronomers led by Laura Kreidberg and Jacob Bean from the University of Chicago and were published inNature .
This is the first prison term scientist have been able-bodied to meditate the atmosphere of a A-one - world , and the accuracy of the cloudy description has been described as bear “ exquisite precision . ” There are two possibleness to explicate the overcast . The clouds may just be really high-pitched in the atmospheric state and are overcloud actual conditions on the surface . These clouds would be mostly compose of atomic number 1 . The second option is a flake more exciting , and could indicate a great mountain of water supply vapor in the atmosphere . The squad did not notice any grounds that atmospheric chemicals like methane , carbon copy dioxide , and nitrogen are present in the atmosphere . Without these , there is no evidence that the atmosphere is cloudless . If the clouds are made of water , they completely master the atmospheric state .
Despite the fact that Hubble was never designed to celebrate atmospheric conditions of exoplanets , the team was able to get good upshot . TheJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST ) that is set to launch in 2018 will be able to more closely examine the atmosphere to determine the composition of the planet and its atmospheric state . There has been considerable speculation about its constitution
The MEarth Project , which remark ruddy dwarf and their exoplanets , discovered GJ 1214b in 2009 . Though it is much larger than Earth , it is smaller than Neptune , which classifies it as a “ super - ground . ” Out of all of the exoplanets in this size of it kitchen range that have been discovered so far , this is by far the well-fixed to observe . It passes by its parent star every 38 hours , giving scientists frequent chance to observe the near - infrared spectrum from the planet , which they can habituate to discern characteristics . However , until the JWST is operational and can get a closer look at the planet , there will still be considerable speculation about the report of GJ 1214b .
