Webb spots quartz crystals in clouds of exoplanet WASP-17b
Image:
This is a transmission spectrum of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-17 b captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope's innovative Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on 12–13 March 2023. It reveals the first evidence for quartz (crystalline silica, SiO2) in the clouds of an exoplanet.
This marks the first time that SiO2 has been identified in an exoplanet, and the first time any specific cloud species has been identified in a transiting exoplanet.
The spectrum was made by measuring the change in brightness of 28 wavelength bands of mid-infrared light as the planet transited the star. Webb observed the WASP-17 system
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