My gf and I are just confused cos the best two telescopes out there are hubble and JWST, right? And they’re great at what they do respectively, but how the hell do we know that a planet millions of light years away has an atmosphere made up of x.
Was prompted because of an article which said “It may have detected a molecule called dimethyl sulphide (DMS). On Earth, at least, this is only produced by life. “ like how tf can we detect a MOLECULE that is so far away.
My guess is colours but no clue.
In: 29
You’re right, it’s colors.
But probably not in the way you’re thinking.
The planet orbits a star and that star has a specific spectrum of light.
When the planet orbits near (or if you’re lucky, transits) the parent star you can get a measurement of the star’s light that has passed through or bounced off the planet’s atmosphere.
This gives you the same spectrum as the parent star but with a few very specific wavelengths (colors) missing – wavelengths that correspond to the light absorbed by the molecules in the atmosphere.
If the wavelengths that dimethyl sulfide absorbs are present in the starlight but missing from the planet, you can conclude that the molecule was present in the atmosphere and absorbed it.
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