James Webb telescope gives new data about exoplanet WASP-39b.

WASP-39b is hot Saturn. Its mass is 0,94 times Saturn and 0,28 times Jupiter. The size of that exoplanet is 1,5 times Jupiter. 

And the reason for that is WASP-39b orbits so close to its sun. The distance to the WASP-39 system is 700 light years. 

The WASP-39 is a G-spectral class star. And that means star WASP-39 is quite similar to the Sun. 

The size of that star is slightly smaller than our Sun. And that makes the WASP-39b so interesting. There are known many gas giants that are orbiting M-type red dwarfs in close distance. 

But quite a small (read low-mass) gas planet that orbits quite a hot star very close is interesting. M-type red dwarfs have solar systems, where all planets are orbiting inside the distance of planet Mercury from their sun. But the WASP 39 is much hotter than some Gliese 581. 

The trajectory of WASP-39b is closer than the trajectory of Mercury. And the intensive heat causes the gas giant to bulge to an extremely large size. The question is why this planet didn't burn in the heat of its star. The solar wind and heat from the central star should blow the atmosphere of the planet and the planet itself away. 

"The atmospheric composition of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-39 b has been revealed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. This graphic shows four transmission spectra from three of Webb’s instruments operated in four instrument modes. A transmission spectrum is made by comparing starlight filtered through a planet’s atmosphere as it moves in front of the star, to the unfiltered starlight detected when the planet is beside the star. Each of the data points (white circles) on these graphs represents the amount of a specific wavelength of light that is blocked by the planet and absorbed by its atmosphere".

"At upper left, data from NIRISS shows fingerprints of potassium (K), water (H2O), and carbon monoxide (CO). At upper right, data from NIRCam shows a prominent water signature. At lower left, data from NIRSpec indicates water, sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO). At lower right, additional NIRSpec data reveals all of these molecules as well as sodium (Na). Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)" (ScitechDaily.com/As Never Seen Before: NASA’s Webb Reveals an Exoplanet Unlike Any in Our Solar System)

The James Webb telescope analyzed the atmosphere of WASP-39b when it traveled over its star. ScitechDily.com describes the atmosphere of the WASP-39b like this: 

"The suite of discoveries is detailed in a set of five new scientific papers, three of which are in press and two of which are under review. Among the unprecedented revelations is the first detection in an exoplanet atmosphere of sulfur dioxide (SO2), a molecule produced from chemical reactions triggered by high-energy light from the planet’s parent star. On Earth, the protective ozone layer in the upper atmosphere is created similarly".

(ScitechDaily.com/As Never Seen Before: NASA’s Webb Reveals an Exoplanet Unlike Any in Our Solar System)

"Other atmospheric constituents detected by the Webb telescope include sodium (Na), potassium (K), and water vapor (H2O), confirming previous space- and ground-based telescope observations as well as finding additional fingerprints of water, at these longer wavelengths, that haven’t been seen before".

(ScitechDaily.com/As Never Seen Before: NASA’s Webb Reveals an Exoplanet Unlike Any in Our Solar System)

"Webb also saw carbon dioxide (CO2) at higher resolution, providing twice as much data as reported from its previous observations. Meanwhile, carbon monoxide (CO) was detected, but obvious signatures of both methane (CH4) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) were absent from the Webb data. If present, these molecules occur at very low levels". 

(ScitechDaily.com/As Never Seen Before: NASA’s Webb Reveals an Exoplanet Unlike Any in Our Solar System)

If carbon monoxide would found in some rocky planet's atmosphere, that would be a sign of life. But the WASP-39b is mainly a gas planet. So there is some kind of photochemical reactions that are forming those molecules. 

The thing that makes those molecules interesting is that. The radiation of the WASP-39 should destroy those molecules. The radiation from that star is very powerful. And that means water and methane are surprising chemical compounds. 

The temperature in the atmosphere of that planet is about 900 C. And that means the water should turn oxygen and hydrogen at that temperature which continues until the star vaporizes its planets. And that happens when WASP-39 turns into a red giant. 

Another interesting thing is why WASP-39b is so close to its star. Maybe it is formed somewhere else, and then some cosmic catastrophe pushed it close to the G-type yellow star. 

The fact is that the mass of WASP-39b is very low for forming in its present position. The solar wind from WASP-39 should destroy that protoplanet. And that makes the WASP-39 so interesting. 

https://scitechdaily.com/as-never-seen-before-nasas-webb-reveals-an-exoplanet-unlike-any-in-our-solar-system/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP-39b

https://astronomyandtechnology.blogspot.com/

More about theoretical extraterrestrial lifeforms

More about theoretical extraterrestrial lifeforms

We must confess one thing, and that is we cannot know, what would some extraterrestrial lifeform look like. Because we don't have straight prove about the existence of that kind of lifeform. And if we are thinking about the fossils of planet Mars, we have not thought that they might become from Earth. 

When the giant meteorite hit Earth, that could throw water and other kinds of things even to space, and those ice bites can drop to Mars. But as you see this is one of many theories about this kind of thing. The life in the universe might be very common, but intelligent lifeforms might be a very extraordinary thing.

And the thing is that culture and technology are a little bit different thing than some kind of intelligence. This makes things like SETI-program so fascinating but in the same way so difficult. We don't know, what kind of things those organisms do, or what they are looking like, but as you see, we must say something. 

Those hypothetical organisms might live in different kind of conditions, and thing what is poisonous for us might be important to those aliens. If the conditions of the hypothetical planets would be similar to Earth, but there would be the giant landmass, there might live lifeforms, which cannot ever drink water. 

For those creatures, water can be poison, because it breaks the cells, and they can get all water from the food. In some other scenarios, aliens would live in the conditions, what is full of acid. In that case, those aliens might have slime cover, which isolates the body from the acid, or their skin would renew very fast because acid would remove cells away from the skin of those creatures.

 And for those organisms the conditions, where is no acid can be deadly, because the slime would sink that organism, or their skin would become too thick, what might cause death. Same way if the aliens would live in carbon dioxide, that means that pure oxygen would burn the mitochondria of those creatures. But those aliens are only hypotheses. 

Van Maanen's star and Epsilon Eridiani's connection with SETI-program. 

Van Maanen's star (Van Maanen 2) (1) is a white dwarf and one of the nearest stars of our solar system. The distance to that white dwarf is 13,9 light-years from us. The thing that the Sun would transform into a white dwarf at the end of its life has caused an idea that or theory, that this star might have civilization, what has moved to another solar system There is no proof about the civilization but the thing is that Van Maanen's star has once been giving fascinating ideas in the mind of SciFi writers and theorists, who have got idea, that this hypothetical civilization would move to Epsilon Eridani, before the Van Maanen's star has erupted as nova. But there is no proof about that. 

Epsilon Eridani is one of the stars, where is looked at the intelligent lifeforms. The star is very well-known because the OZMA-message (3) would send it to that star. This star is too young that scientists say that they could find intelligent lifeforms or civilization around it.  

And that star is only 0,7 mass of the mass of Sun. The thing is that Epsilon Eridani is cooler than our sun, and if there could be the aliens, they would not feel comfortable on Earth, because the sun is so bright, that the skin of aliens would burn. But there is one remarkable thing in that star and the solar wind of Epsilon Eridani is very strong, 30 times more powerful than the sun (4). That tells a very strong magnetic activity. Maybe it is caused that the star is very young, but there is another explanation for that. 

And that means that there have been happening something, what causes that effect. So is that star faced the GRB (Gamma Ray Burst), which means that it would get extra energy dose. That thing can cause that magnetic field would get stronger. But the energy for that thing might be caused by some other reasons and is it possible that the overactivity of Epsilon Eridani causes that the star has impacted with some red dwarf. 

(1)

https://www.universeguide.com/star/vanmaanensstar

(2)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Eridani

(3)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ozma

(4)

The film about Epsilon Eridani

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1JsVHc0fOg