🇺🇸▼
Our solar system is a huge and varied place. It holds eight major planets, five dwarf planets, and nearly 1,000 moons. These worlds are usually split into two groups. The first group has four rocky planets in the inner system. The second group has four massive gas giants in the outer system. Among all these worlds, Jupiter is the clear giant. It is enormous. Its radius is eleven times larger than Earth's. Its mass is 318 times greater than our planet.
However, the discovery of exoplanets has changed our understanding. Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. Scientists have found many distant worlds that are larger and more massive than Jupiter. This discovery raised a critical question. Just how large can a planet grow? Is there a strict limit, or can they keep growing forever? A team of scientists from the United States and Canada is now closer to answering this. They are led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego.
For a recent study in the journal Nature Astronomy, the team studied gas giant formation. For years, scientists believed gas giants form by slowly gathering ice and rock. The exact details of this process were not well understood. To solve this puzzle, the researchers used NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope, known as JWST.
Using this advanced telescope, the team observed three gas giant exoplanets. These planets are in the HR 8799 star system. This system is located about 133 light-years from Earth. While the HR 8799 system has four gas giants in total, the team focused on three. These three planets are massive. They range between five to ten times the mass of Jupiter. They orbit their star at great distances. These distances range from 15 to 70 astronomical units, known as AU. One AU is the average distance from the Sun to Earth. In our solar system, Jupiter orbits just over 5 AU. These distant planets orbit much farther from their star than Jupiter does.
JWST instruments carefully analyzed the atmospheres of these three planets. The main goal was to determine their exact chemical composition. By understanding what these planets are made of, scientists hoped to learn how they formed. After a thorough analysis, researchers confirmed several key molecules. These included water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane. They also detected molecules containing sulfur, oxygen, and carbon.