Washington: New observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have suggested that a nearby alien planet is made entirely of water vapor.
The planet, located about 100 light-years from Earth, has been named GJ 9827 d.
It consists almost entirely of water vapor, with an atmospheric volume twice the size of our Earth and three times that of our planet.
“This is the first time we’ve seen such a planet,” said Ishan Raul, a member of the team of scientists and former University of Michigan undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It appears that the planet is mostly made of hot water vapor, making it a world we can call a ‘steam world,'” he said.