Space.com
• Sharmila Kuthunur
JWST directly analyzes the surface of a distant super-Earth—reporting a dark, hot, airless, Mercury-like world
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have, for the first time, directly analyzed an exoplanet’s surface. The observations indicate a dark, hot, barren, airless rock—described as Mercury-like—expanding JWST’s role from atmospheric characterization to direct surface study.
