CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -An international team of researchers, led by the University of Exeter, made the new discovery by observing glowing water molecules in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-121b with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

Detailed explanation-2: -This 360° animation depicts planet WASP-121b; an exoplanet with an atmosphere of glowing water. With an atmosphere hot enough to boil iron, WASP-121b is a type of exoplanet known as a ‘hot Jupiter’.

Detailed explanation-3: -Hubble also was the first telescope to directly detect an exoplanet’s atmosphere, by observing the star’s light passing through it. Using this method of “transit spectroscopy, ” Hubble observed signatures of sodium in the planet’s atmosphere. In 2018, Hubble studied the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system.

Detailed explanation-4: -As a transiting exoplanet passes in front of its host star, we can observe the exoplanet’s atmosphere as it is backlit by the star. Additional atmospheric observations can be made by watching as the exoplanet disappears and reappears from behind the star.

Detailed explanation-5: -In July 2022, water was detected on the exoplanet WASP-96b based on spectrum studies with the James Webb Space Telescope. In August 2022, water was detected on the exoplanet TOI-1452 b based on studies with data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).