James Webb Space Telescope detects water vapor around alien planet. But where did it come from?

a grayish planet with a red star in the background

We could be on the verge of a major breakthrough in the search for other worlds that might support life.

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe water vapor around a distant rocky planet. The water vapor could indicate the presence of an atmosphere around the extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, a discovery that could be important for our search for habitable worlds outside the solar system. However, the scientists behind the discovery caution that this water vapor could be coming from the world's host star rather than the planet itself.