Part 3/7:
A pivotal aspect of this research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, highlights an important feature of the atmospheres surrounding these ocean worlds. The researchers have found that alkanes possess a unique infrared fingerprint, which makes them more recognizable than oxygen when observed through the James Webb Space Telescope. Remarkably, the telescope can detect these gases after just 13 hours of observation—an impressively short timeframe given the scale of such investigations.