Webb Discovers Exomoon-Forming Circumplanetary Disk around Gas-Giant Exoplanet
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have found the carbon-rich disk surrounding CT Cha b, a giant exoplanet around 620 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Chamaeleon. Their results provide the first direct insight into the chemical and physical properties of material being accreted onto a gas giant and into its potential moon system.An artistic rendering of a dust and gas disk encircling the young exoplanet CT Cha b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / G. Cugno, University of Zürich & NCCR PlanetS / S. Grant, Carnegie Institution for Science / J. Olmsted, STScI / L. Hustak, STScI.CT Cha, also known as PDS 44 and TIC 454259409, is only 2 million years old and still accreting circumstellar material.
However, the circumplanetary disk discovered by Webb is not part...
