Planet found through its atmospheric fingerprint opens new way to uncover worlds hidden in starlight
Few planetary systems have shaped astronomers’ understanding of planet formation as profoundly as Beta Pictoris. Since the discovery of its famous debris disk in 1983, observations with ground- and space-based telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, have revealed exocomets, intricate dust structure, giant exoplanets, and evidence of a planetary system still under construction. Now, Webb has uncovered a third giant planet using an entirely new approach: identifying it through the chemical fingerprint of its atmosphere.
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