Webb Finds Phosphorus-Bearing Gas in an Ancient Brown Dwarf
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected phosphine (PH₃) in the atmosphere of the ancient brown dwarf Wolf 1130C, about 54 light-years away in Cygnus. This marks the first confirmed detection of a phosphorus-bearing gas in such a metal-poor object. The finding surprises astronomers, as phosphine was previously undetected in similar brown dwarfs, challenging existing models of phosphorus chemistry and hinting at unknown atmospheric or stellar processes at work.
