NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has found its first planet – and it looks a lot like Earth.
They say the planet is about the same size as ours, and JWST’s precision means scientists can be very confident in their observations.
This is expected to be just the start of a group of planets discovered by NASA’s new space telescope. In addition, it will be able to see these planets in much greater detail than ever before, being the only telescope capable of discerning the atmospheres of distant planets.
So far, scientists have only been able to determine what is there No present in the planet’s atmosphere. It cannot, for example, have a dense methane-dominated atmosphere like that of Saturn’s moon Titan.
Scientists hope that over time they will be able to better characterize the atmosphere of the distant planet. But the results also show that JWST is being used to study other planets – with many more discoveries expected in the weeks and months to come.
“These early observations of a rocky Earth-sized planet open up many future possibilities for studying rocky planet atmospheres with Webb,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. , DC.
“Webb is bringing us ever closer to a new understanding of Earth-like worlds beyond our solar system, and the mission is still in its infancy.”
The planet is called LHS 475 b and is 41 light years away in the constellation Octane. Mention of this was first spotted in data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, but JWST soon saw and confirmed it.
Much is still unknown about the world. But early observations have confirmed some details about it: its diameter is 99% that of Earth and only a few hundred degrees larger than ours.
These small rocky planets have remained elusive because their small size required powerful instruments to see them. However, new findings indicate that the increased strength of the JWST will make it relatively easy to spot with the new technology.
“Confirmation of this rocky planet highlights the accuracy of the mission’s instruments,” said Kevin Stephenson of Johns Hopkins University, who helped lead the work. “And that’s just the first of many discoveries he’s going to make.”
