NASA’s James Webb Finds Water on Comet Read

Recently, NASA announced that its telescope James Webb has discovered water on Comet Read.

About the Discovery

  • Water Discovered On: Comet 238P/Read
  • Discovered By: NASA
  • Discovered Using: Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument
  • Discovery Announced On: May 15, 2023

Key Points

  • Astronomers have confirmed specifically water vapor- around a comet in the main asteroid belt for the first time using Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument.
  • This is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and the majority of asteroids are found here.