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| A visualisation showing exoplanet GJ 9827 d. — Nasa |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) observed an Exoplanet ( Planets that orbit around other stars) covered with a thick layer of steam by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
This Exoplanet has been named as GJ 9827 d , located 100-Light Years from Earth. This is around twice the size of The Earth and three times massive with atmosphere that is almost entirely covered with water vapours.
Team member and former University of Michigan undergraduate student Eshan Raul, currently at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, stated:
"This is the first time we are everything something like this"
He also said: This planet is mostly covered with hot water vapour so we are calling it "steam planet" to be clear this planet isn't hospitable to the life that we are familiar with on Earth.
Astronauts have longed enough to assume that such planets (GJ 9827 d) could exist but they never expected that such planet would not be hospitable to the life. This is the first time such an Exoplanet has been observed.
According to Raul , This planet is unlikely to support life , at least as we understand , but it could give an opportunity to astronauts to discover and study on small Exoplanets between size of Earth and Pluto that are habitable.
GJ 9827 d's steamy nature was discovered by a study team using a technique called "Transmission spectroscopy (used to study the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars)"
The team was led by Caroline Piaulet-Ghorayeb from the University of Montréal's Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanet.