About the Object


Exoplanet LHS 475 b (NIRSpec Transmission Spectrum)

A flat line in a transmission spectrum, like this one, can be exciting — it can tell us a lot about the planet. Researchers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to observe exoplanet LHS 475 b on 31 August 2022. As this spectrum shows, Webb did not observe a detectable quantity of any element or molecule. The data (white dots) are consistent with a featureless spectrum representative of a planet that has no atmosphere (yellow line). The purple line represents a pure carbon dioxide atmosphere and is indistinguishable from a flat line at the current level of precision. The green line represents a pure methane atmosphere, which is not favoured since methane, if present, would be expected to block more starlight at 3.3 microns.

[Image Description: The graphic shows the transmission spectrum of the rocky exoplanet LHS 475 b. The data points are plotted as white circles with grey error bars on a graph of the amount of light blocked in percent on the vertical axis versus wavelength of light in microns on the horizontal axis. A straight green line represents a best-fit model. A curvy red line represents a methane model, and a slightly less curvy purple line represents a carbon dioxide model.]

Credit:

NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI), K. Stevenson, J. Lustig-Yaeger, E. May (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), G. Fu (Johns Hopkins University), and S. Moran (University of Arizona)

About the Image

Id: weic2302d
Type: Artwork
Release date: 11 January 2023, 19:15
Related releases: weic2302
Size: 15999 x 10229 px


Image Formats

Download IconLarge JPEG 7.7 MB
Download IconScreensize JPEG 138.0 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

Download Icon1024x768 148.3 KB
Download Icon1280x1024 209.6 KB
Download Icon1600x1200 291.0 KB
Download Icon1920x1200 355.8 KB
Download Icon2048x1536 428.0 KB

Also see our