NASA spots one-of-a-kind ‘ocean planet’ dubbed ‘Super-Earth’ in major space breakthrough

Prof Doyon said: “Our observations with the Webb Telescope will be essential to better understanding TOI-1452 b. As soon as we can, we will book time on the Webb to observe this strange and wonderful world.”

It comes as the James Webb Telescope discovered carbon dioxide on an exoplanet for the first time, in what was one of its first observations.

Called the Wasp 39b, scientists said it showed a clear signal of plenty of carbon dioxide.

Zafar Rustamkulov from the Webb telescope Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science team, said: “As soon as the data appeared on my screen, the whopping carbon dioxide feature grabbed me. It was a special moment, crossing an important threshold in exoplanet sciences.”

The article “TOI-1452 b: SPIRou and TESS reveal a super-Earth in a temperate orbit transiting an M4 dwarf” was published in The Astronomical Journal on August 12.

NASA has said it has already been able to identify thousands of the planets outside our solar system.

Charles Cadieux, an astronomer who does ground follow-up observations of planets identified by TESS to confirm their characteristics, said: “TOI-1452 b is one of the best candidates for an ocean planet that we have found to date.

“Its radius and mass suggest a much lower density than what one would expect for a planet that is basically made up of metal and rock, like Earth.”

Now, follow-up observations are expected to be carried out by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1660500/nasa-ocean-planet-super-earth-tess-exoplanet-space-university-of-montreal-james-webb