James Webb Telescope Discovers Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Peroxide on Pluto's Moon Charon.
Science and Technology
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has identified Carbon Dioxide (COâ‚‚) and Hydrogen Peroxide (Hâ‚‚Oâ‚‚) on the surface of Charon, the largest moon of Pluto.
- These discoveries were made using Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec).
- Charon was discovered in 1978 by James Christy and Robert Harrington at the US Naval Observatory in Arizona.
Main Points:- (i) This detection marks the first time these compounds have been identified on Charon, which has a diameter of approximately 1,200 kilometers (km) and orbits Pluto at a distance of about 19,640 km.
(ii) The identification of CO₂ and H₂O₂ adds to previously known materials on Charon’s surface, such as crystalline water ice and ammonia. The findings were published in Nature Communications.
(iii) The research team was led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Texas, United States of America (USA).
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