The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This is an artist’s impression showing what the exoplanet WASP-39 b could look like, based on current understanding of the planet.
WASP-39 b is a hot, puffy gas giant planet with a mass 0.28 times that of Jupiter (0.94 times that of Saturn) and a diameter 1.3 times that of Jupiter, orbiting just 0.0486 astronomical units (7 274 285 km) from its host star. The star, WASP-39, is fractionally smaller and less massive than the Sun. Because it is so close to its star, WASP-39 b is very hot and is likely to be tidally locked, meaning that one side faces the star at all times.
Data collected by Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) show unambiguous evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, while previous observations from Hubble, Spitzer, and other telescopes indicate the presence of water vapour, sodium, and potassium, as well. The planet probably has clouds and some form of weather, but may not have atmospheric bands like those of Jupiter and Saturn.
This illustration is based on indirect transit observations from Webb as well as other space and ground-based telescopes. Webb has not captured a direct image of this planet.
NIRSpec was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by a consortium of European companies led by Airbus Defence and Space (ADS) with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre providing its detector and micro-shutter subsystems.