NASA’s Webb Space Telescope has observed for the first time an exoplanet (outside the solar system), coded LHS 475 b, which is similar in size to Earth and regarding 99% of Earth’s diameter.
NASA’s Webb telescope discovers first exoplanet
A team of researchers led by Stevenson and Lustig-Yeger of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory chose to observe with the Webb Space Telescope following discovering the possible existence of this planet. The Webb Near Infrared Spectrometer easily and clearly captured the planet in just two transit observations.
Lustig-Yeger said: “The existence of this planet is beyond doubt, and Webb’s original data can confirm it.”
NASA’s Webb telescope discovers first exoplanet
“The first observation of a rocky planet the size of Earth opens the door to many possibilities for the Webb telescope to study the atmospheres of rocky planets in the future,” said Krampin, director of the astrophysics division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. We are on the verge of a new understanding of Earth-like worlds outside our solar system, and the mission is just beginning.”
The team also noticed that although the planet may not have an atmosphere, it does not rule out that there are still some atmospheric components, such as a pure carbon dioxide atmosphere. Lustig-Yeger said that a 100% carbon dioxide atmosphere is denser than commonly believed, so it is difficult to detect. The team needs more precise measurements to distinguish whether it is a pure carbon dioxide atmosphere or no atmosphere at all. They plan to Obtain more spectra during observations this summer.
NASA’s Webb telescope discovers first exoplanet
The Webb telescope also found that the planet is hundreds of degrees hotter than Earth. If clouds were detected, researchers might think it is more like Venus, because Venus has an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which is always covered in thick clouds.
The researchers also confirmed that the planet completed its orbit in just two days, a message seen almost instantaneously by Webb’s precise light curve. Although LHS 475 b is closer to its star than any planet in the solar system, its red dwarf is less than half as hot as our sun, so researchers predict it may still have an atmosphere.
Exoplanet LHS 475 b (imagined) first discovered by NASA’s Webb telescope.online pictures
LHS 475 b is located in the Antarctic constellation, relatively close to the earth, only 41 light-years away.
