Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI), Renyu Hu (NASA-JPL), Aaron Bello-Arufe (NASA-JPL), Michael Zhang (University of Chicago), Mantas Zilinskas (SRON)
A thermal emission spectrum of the super-Earth exoplanet 55 Cancri e, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) GRISM Spectrometer (F444W) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) Low-Resolution Spectrometer, shows that the planet may be surrounded by an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide and other volatiles, not just vaporized rock.