
-
New Canada PM meets King Charles and Macron after Trump threats
-
Conan O'Brien tapped to host Oscars again
-
China stimulus hopes help stock markets rise
-
Hong Kong property tycoon Lee Shau-kee dies aged 97
-
EU vows 2.5 bn euros to help Syrians after Assad ouster
-
'Anti-American'? US questions UN agencies, international aid groups
-
Trump claims Biden pardons of his opponents are void
-
N.Macedonia mourns 59 killed in nightclub blaze
-
West Ham's Antonio '100 percent' sure he will play again after car crash
-
Major rallies in rebel-held Yemen after deadly US strikes
-
Webb telescope directly observes exoplanet CO2 for first time
-
Trump to visit top US arts venue after takeover
-
McIlroy wins second Players Championship title in playoff
-
Stench of death as Sudan army, paramilitaries battle for capital
-
Trump and Zelensky's stormy ties: From impeachment to truce proposal
-
McIlroy wins Players Championship title in playoff
-
'More and faster': UN calls to shrink buildings' carbon footprint
-
Plastic pellets spotted in water after North Sea ship crash
-
US retail sales weaker than expected as consumer health under scrutiny
-
After ending Man Utd goal drought, Hojlund admits struggles
-
African players in Europe: Brilliant Marmoush strikes for City
-
Liverpool face uncertain future even as Premier League glory beckons
-
Court upholds £3 bn lifeline for UK's top water supplier
-
New Canada PM seeks 'reliable' Europe allies after Trump threats
-
Putin, Trump to discuss Ukraine Tuesday
-
OECD lowers global growth projections over tariffs, uncertainty
-
N.Macedonia mourns dozens killed in nightclub blaze
-
EU warns Trump's freeze of US-funded media risks aiding enemies
-
Toll from US weekend tornadoes rises to at least 40
-
Stock markets rise as China unveils consumer plan
-
Russians speak of nerves and hope for peace as they shelter in Kursk
-
Yemen's Huthis claim US aircraft carrier attacks
-
At least 40 killed in weekend US tornadoes
-
Peruvian farmer demands 'climate justice' from German energy giant
-
From determination to despair: S.Africa's youth battling for work
-
Designer Jonathan Anderson leaves Spanish brand Loewe
-
UK energy minister in Beijing seeks to press China on emissions
-
South Korea coach takes swipe at Bayern Munich over Kim injury
-
Markets start week on front foot as China unveils consumer plan
-
Gauls on tour: Asterix does Portugal for 41st comic
-
'Throwing Philosopher' plans to get inside Ohtani's head in MLB opener
-
Mount Fuji hikers to be charged $27 on all trails
-
Nigeria seek World Cup redemption, Sudan eye history
-
Nine-year-old Thai tattooist makes his mark
-
Malaysian rice porridge a 'trademark' Ramadan tradition
-
South Korea opposition urges swift ruling on president's fate
-
Threatened by US, Canada hugs France and Britain close
-
Comic-loving German goalkeeper finds peace, and himself, in Japan
-
Trump and Putin to discuss Ukraine this week
-
Five talking points on Nations League, World Cup qualifiers in Europe

Webb telescope directly observes exoplanet CO2 for first time
The James Webb Space Telescope has directly observed the key chemical of carbon dioxide in planets outside of our solar system for the first time, scientists announced Monday.
The gas giants are not capable of hosting extraterrestrial life, but do offer clues in a lingering mystery about how distant planets form, according to a study in The Astrophysical Journal.
The HR 8799 system, 130 light years from Earth, is only 30 million years old -- just a baby compared to our solar system's 4.6 billion years.
A US-led team of researchers used Webb to directly detect carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of all four of the system's known planets, according to the study.
They used Webb's coronagraph instruments, which block the light from bright stars to get a better view of the planets revolving around them.
"It's like putting your thumb up in front of the Sun when you're looking up at the sky," lead study author William Balmer, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP.
Normally, the Webb telescope only detects exoplanets by glimpsing them when they cross in front of their host star.
This "transiting method" was how Webb indirectly detected CO2 in the atmosphere of the gas giant WASP-39 in 2022.
But for latest discovery, "we're actually seeing the light that is emitted from the planet itself, as opposed to the fingerprint of that light from the host star," Balmer said.
This is not easy -- Balmer compared the process to using a torch to spot fireflies next to a lighthouse.
While these gas giants may not be able to host life, it is possible that they had moons that could, he added.
There are missions currently under way to find out if there could be life in the vast oceans underneath the icy shells of several of Jupiter's moons.
- 'Key piece of proof' -
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential for life on Earth, making it a key target in the search for life elsewhere.
Because CO2 condenses into little ice particles in the deep cold of space, its presence can shed light on planetary formation.
Jupiter and Saturn are believed to have first formed from a "bottom up" process in which a bunch of tiny, icy particles came together into a solid core which then sucked in gas to grow into giants, Balmer said.
So the new discovery is a "key piece of proof" that far-off planets can form in a similar way to those in our celestial backyard, Balmer said.
But how common this is throughout the universe remains unclear.
Astronomers have now discovered nearly 6,000 exoplanets, many of them massive -- and none of them known to be habitable.
The "huge leap forward we need to make" is to focus on smaller Earth-sized worlds, Balmer said.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will use a coronagraph to do that just after its planned launch in 2027.
Balmer hopes to use Webb to observe more four-planet systems, but added that future funding was now in question.
Last week the Trump administration announced that NASA's chief scientist has been dismissed, indicating that more cuts were to come for the US space agency.
J.Oliveira--AMWN