The James Webb Space Telescope will conduct extraordinary research into odd, undiscovered rocky planets. The scientific collaboration behind the telescope has set an ambitious goal of studying geology on these minor planets from “50 light-years away,” according to a statement released on Thursday (May 26). The work will be a major test for the new observatory, which is expected to be completed in a few weeks.
Due to the smaller planets’ relative brightness adjacent to a star and their comparatively small size, rocky planets are more difficult to see with present telescope equipment than gas giants. Webb, on the other hand, might be able to study two planets somewhat larger than Earth, known as “super-Earths,” because to its strong mirror and deep-space position.
(Nighttime lava also implies a day-night cycle, which might be owing to a 3:2 resonance, or three spins for every two orbits, as seen on Mercury in our own solar system.) Two teams will test these hypotheses: one, led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Renyu Hu, will look for signs of an atmosphere in the planet’s thermal emission, while the other, led by Alexis Brandeker, an associate professor from Stockholm University, will measure heat emittance from the lit side of 55 Cancri e.
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