May 10, 2024

A diagram of a secondary eclipse and a graph of the resulting change in brightness over time in the 55 Cancri system based on detections by the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI instrument

An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the results of a study of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e, formally called Janssen, which confirms the presence of an atmosphere that is considered secondary, which means that it derives from emissions coming from the planet itself. A team of researchers led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) used observations conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope to detect traces of an atmosphere that may be rich in carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide.