The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said today (12) that the James Webb Space Telescope (James Webb Space Telescope) has achieved a new achievement in observing the existence of an extrasolar planet.
NASA throughPress releaseannounced that a research team led by Kevin Stevenson and Jacob Lustig-Yaeger of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) Telescope, confirming a planet orbiting another star. And this exoplanet is officially numbered “LHS 475 b”, which is similar in size to the Earth, and its diameter is about 99% of that of the Earth.
NASA stated that the team carefully examined NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and after discovering the possible existence of this planet, observed it with the Webb Space Telescope, and the Webb Near Infrared Spectrometer passed through it only twice. Capture the planet. “The existence of this planet is beyond doubt, and Weber’s original data confirm it,” Lustig Yegel said.
Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Department at NASA Headquarters in Washington, pointed out that the first observation of a rocky planet the size of the Earth opened up many possibilities for the Webb telescope to study the atmosphere of rocky planets in the future. understanding of terrestrial planets outside our solar system, and the mission is only just beginning.”
NASA pointed out that the Webb telescope also found that the temperature of this planet is hundreds of degrees higher than that of the earth. If clouds are detected, researchers may think that it is more like Venus, because Venus has an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which is always covered in thick clouds. in the 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. In addition, LHS 475 b is located in the Antarctic constellation, which is relatively close to the earth, only 41 light-years away.
Responsible editor / Yin Minghui
