Scientists have discovered a strange new world.
It is almost the same size as the Earth. It is rocky.this is relatively Close (41 light-years away). And for the first time, astronomers discovered this exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system, using the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space telescope ever built. It is called LHS 475b.
“Webb is getting closer and closer to a new understanding of Earth-like worlds outside our solar system,” said Mark Clampin, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, in a statement. “The mission is just getting started.
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However, this planet differs from Earth in some key ways. LHS 475 b orbits her little star every two days, which is a very close orbit. But this star, called a “red dwarf,” is half the size of the Sun, so it’s cooler. So this world is “several hundred degrees warmer than Earth,” he notes NASA.
“With this telescope, rocky exoplanets are a new frontier.”
Importantly, LHS 475 b may still have an atmosphere. But to see what exactly it consists of, we’ll have to repoint Webb to this planet and get more detailed information, which is expected later this year.Johns Hopkins “The data from the observatory is beautiful,” said Erin May, an astrophysicist at the University’s Institute of Applied Physics, in a statement. We can’t make any definitive conclusions yet.” The large Webb telescope, with mirrors over 21 feet in diameter, will likely capture light from some of the earliest galaxies that formed billions of years ago. Designed to But it also has a special instrument called a spectrograph that can detect things in the skies of exoplanets. Mashable previously reported how to peer into distant worlds.
Astronomers wait for the planet to move in front of the bright star. This star’s light travels through the exoplanet’s atmosphere, then through space, and finally to an instrument called a spectrograph aboard the Webb telescope (a strategy called “transmission spectroscopy”). They are essentially high-tech prisms that separate light into rainbow colors. Certain molecules, like water in the atmosphere, absorb certain types or colors of light. Each molecule has a specific diet. Therefore, if that color does not appear in the spectrum of colors observed in the Webb spectrograph, it means that it has been absorbed (or “consumed”) by the exoplanet’s atmosphere. That is, the element exists in the sky of that planet.
Currently, there is no other practical telescope capable of studying what is in the atmosphere of an Earth-sized planet. Earth is relatively small. As such, exoplanets like Jupiter are easier to detect and analyze.
Illustration showing how the James Webb Space Telescope’s spectroscope probed the atmosphere of LHS 475 b.
Credits: Credits: Illustrations: NASA / ESA / CSA / L. Hustak (STScI); Science: K. Stevenson / J. Lustig-Yaeger / E. May (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) / G. Fu (Johns Hopkins University) ) / S. Moran (University of Arizona)
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Webb may detect and analyze other Earth-sized rocky worlds. “These first observations from an Earth-sized rocky planet open the door to many future possibilities for studying the atmospheres of rocky planets on the web,” said NASA’s Clumpin.
Some of these rock balls orbit the solar system’s habitable zone, a temperate region where liquid water can exist on the surface. Webb helps reveal what they are really like.
“Rocky exoplanets are the new frontier for this telescope,” said Johns Hopkins University astronomer Kevin Stevenson in a statement.
