The James Webb Space Telescope managed to capture an image of an earth-sized planet outside the Solar System. The planet, which is officially classified as LHS 475 b, is roughly 99 percent the diameter of Earth.
Earth-sized planet: Launching India Express, researchers were able to confirm that the planet completed an orbit around its star in just two days.
But even though the planet is closer to its star than any planet in the Solar System, LHS 475 b orbits a red dwarf star that is less than half the temperature of the Sun.
Potency: After carefully reviewing the target of interest from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, the research team chose to observe the target’s location with the Webb telescope. The Space Observatory (NIRCam) (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) was able to capture the planet easily in just two transit observations.
“These first observations of a rocky planet the size of Earth open the door to many future possibilities for studying the atmospheres of rocky planets with Webb. Webb is bringing us ever closer to a new understanding of Earth-like worlds beyond our Solar System, and his mission is just getting started,” said research team member Mark Clampin recently.
Web capabilities: According to NASA, Webb is the only telescope capable of characterizing the atmospheres of Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. Webb is sensitive enough to detect various molecules in LHS 475 b’s atmosphere, but researchers haven’t come to a definitive conclusion yet. In fact, it is possible that the planet does not have an atmosphere.
While they couldn’t yet tell what was in the planet’s atmosphere, they could confirm what was missing. For example, they knew the planet lacked the thick, methane-dominated atmosphere found on Saturn’s moon Titan.
But one of the most exciting aspects of this research is the fact that it opens up the possibility of identifying many more Earth-sized terrestrial planets. This ability could potentially prove to play a role in the search for other planets with life-sustaining capabilities.
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