科学家首次在岩石超级地球上发现大气层

UNM Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor Diana Dragomir was part of the recent study, though she was already well-acquainted with the exoplanet after contributing to the discovery of its transits in her doctoral thesis. Exoplanet 55 Cancri e’s density and heat have long led to complex questions for her and others who study exoplanets.
新墨西哥大学物理和天文学助理教授戴安娜·德拉戈米尔（Diana Dragomir）参与了最近的研究，尽管她在博士论文中为发现凌日现象做出了贡献，但她已经对这颗系外行星非常熟悉了。系外行星 55 Cancri e 的密度和热量长期以来一直给她和其他研究系外行星的人带来复杂的问题。

“Ever since its discovery, this planet has defied multiple attempts at understanding its properties and composition. This discovery is the clearest piece of information we have obtained so far for 55 Cancri e,” Dragomir said.
“自从发现这颗行星以来，人们多次尝试了解它的性质和成分。这一发现是我们迄今为止获得的关于 55 Cancri e 的最清晰的信息。”德拉戈米尔说。

The discovery would not be possible without the James Webb Space Telescope, which allows researchers to study exoplanets with greater precision than ever before. The team used images from the Webb telescope to analyze light emitted by the exoplanet and its star. To do that, they first had to translate the images into light spectra. They then compared the observations to spectra created from different combinations of elements and molecules to hypothesize what potential atmospheric compositions the exoplanet might have. This study is among the first to use data from the Webb telescope for this kind of investigation and the models used in the study could provide future researchers with a process to complete similar work for other exoplanets.
如果没有詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜，这一发现就不可能实现，它使研究人员能够比以往更精确地研究系外行星。该团队使用韦伯望远镜的图像来分析这颗系外行星及其恒星发出的光。为此，他们首先必须将图像转换为光谱。然后，他们将观测结果与由元素和分子的不同组合创建的光谱进行比较，以假设系外行星可能具有哪些潜在的大气成分。这项研究是首批使用韦伯望远镜数据进行此类调查的研究之一，研究中使用的模型可以为未来的研究人员提供完成其他系外行星类似工作的过程。