James Webb Telescope discovers an Earth-like exoplanet

THEM James Webb telescope finds Earth-like exoplanetIt orbits a red dwarf star 41 light-years away. This is the first confirmation of the existence of a planet outside the Solar System by NASA’s powerful spacecraft designed to search for potentially habitable distant worlds.

The rocky rock, designated LHS 475 b, is about the same size as our planet, with 99% the diameter of Earth. Its presence in the Octans constellation had already been suggested by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, but was confirmed after a detailed analysis of previous data along with new observations from Webb’s infrared spectrograph.

The newly discovered exoplanet orbits a nearby star with a temperature less than half that of the Sun every 2 Earth days. So far, it’s impossible to say that LHS 475b has an atmosphere, as the team responsible for the study did not detect any significant amounts of any element or molecule.

But there is certainty that there is no methane in the possible atmosphere. This is because if the methane were there, the blocking of starlight would have been strong enough to make observing the exoplanet difficult. Still, the researchers did not rule out other types of atmospheric composition, such as those created by pure carbon dioxide.

The temperature there is several hundred degrees warmer than Earth’s, which could give LHS 475b a dense atmosphere dominated by thick clouds. If this scenario is correct, the distant world in question will look more like Venus, whose atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide.

According to an official NASA statement, the results of the study of this Earth-sized rocky planet do not yet allow firm conclusions to be drawn, but do open the door for future detailed studies of distant worlds. The estimation is that Webb will return to LHS 475 b again mid-year to obtain additional spectra of precisely planetary composition.