Mallika Dureja
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Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have proven for the first time that there is a planet that goes around another star. NASA has given the planet the name LHS 475 b and says that it is almost exactly the same size as Earth.
The diameter of LHS 475 b is about 99 percent of that of Earth. With Webb’s accurate light curve, the scientists were able to confirm that the planet orbits its star once every two days. But even though the planet is closer to its star than any other planet in our solar system, it orbits a red dwarf star that is less than half as hot as the Sun.
After carefully looking over the targets of interest from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, the research team decided to use the Webb telescope to look at the target location. The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRCam) on the space observatory was able to get a clear picture of the planet in just two transit observations.
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“These first observations from a rocky planet about the size of Earth open up many new ways to study the atmospheres of rocky planets with Webb.” “Webb is bringing us closer and closer to a new understanding of Earth-like worlds outside our solar system, and the mission is just getting started,” said Mark Clampin, a member of the research team, in a press release. On Wednesday, the results of the study were shown to the press at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).
NASA says that Webb is the only telescope that can figure out what the atmospheres of planets like Earth that orbit faraway stars are like. Webb is sensitive enough to pick up a variety of molecules in the atmosphere of LHS 475 b, but scientists have not yet come to any firm conclusions. In fact, the planet might not even have an atmosphere.
Discovery Alert! 📣
A second Earth-sized exoplanet is found hiding in a star’s habitable zone! A year there, one orbit, takes 28 days. It joins three other worlds in the system 100 light-years from Earth. https://t.co/qCYoMQnKs3 pic.twitter.com/JKi7dBB8Wt— NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanets) January 13, 2023
Even though they can’t say what is in the atmosphere of the planet yet, they can say what isn’t there. For example, they know that the planet doesn’t have a thick atmosphere made mostly of methane like Saturn’s moon Titan does.
But one of the most interesting things about the research is that it makes it possible to find more Earth-sized planets that live on land. This ability could help in the search for other planets that could support life.
