Webb reveals rocky planets can form in extreme environments

This is an artist’s impression of a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disc in which planets are forming. An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to provide the first observation of water and other molecules in the inner, rocky-planet-forming regions of a disc in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy. These results suggest that the conditions for rocky-planet  formation, typically found in the discs of low-mass star-forming regions, can also occur in massive-star-forming regions and possibly a broader range of environments.

Because of its location near several massive stars in NGC6357, scientists expect XUE 1 to have been constantly exposed to a high ultraviolet radiation field throughout its life. However, in this extreme environment the team still detected a range of molecules that are the building blocks of rocky planets.

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_study_reveals_rocky_planets_can_form_in_extreme_environments

In essence, this expands the possibility of finding many more rocky planets than were previous thought to be exist.

Lots of “gas giants” and a few “super Earths” have been found so far. But Webb is just getting started…