Hubble Telescope Finds Water Steam In The Smallest Exoplanet Atmosphere

Illustration of the exoplanet GJ 9827d. (dok photo. ESA)

JAKARTA Astronomers in the European Space Agency (ESA) managed to find water vapor in GJ 9827d, one of the smallest exoplanets in the Milky Way Galaxy, using the Hubble Space Telescope.

The discovery of water in the form of gas in the atmosphere of GJ 9827d shows that the exoplanet may be rich in water. Astronomers can use 9827d GJ data to search for other exoplanets that have the potential to store water.

"This will be the first time we have been able to directly demonstrate through atmospheric detection that these water-rich planets could actually exist around other stars," said Astronomer Bj Sembuh Benneke.

Although the Hubble spectroscope has succeeded in detecting small amounts of water vapor in the astmosphere of GJ 9827d, astronomers have not been able to determine the amount of water content on the planet. They still have to study the data first.

Currently, the team observing GJ 9827d mentions two possibilities. First, the planet may be covered with hydrogen rich in water such as Neptune Mini. The second possibility is that this exoplanet has more water content than Earth.

GJ 9827d may be a warm version of Europa, a moon from Jupiter, and its water is stored under the planet's crust. These two possibilities are still uncertain, so astronomers should conduct further research.

Planet GJ 9827d can be half water, half a rock. There will be a lot of water vapor on top of the smaller rock," said Bj Medan. For the time being, GJ 9827d is expected to form near hot stars with traces of water left in the atmosphere.

The research will take quite a long time as astronomers have to observe the planet during 11 transits, a process as planets pass between stars and observation points, which takes three years apart.

Therefore, the process of determining the origin of water and its amount will take longer than ever. At least, astronomers have found signs that this Earth-sized planet twice the diameter contains water.