James Webb telescope discovers first Earth-like planet – and fuels hope for more

Enthusiasm was high when the new James Webb Space Telescope first provided images from space in the summer of 2022. Now the successor to the Hubble telescope is celebrating another premiere: with its help, an Earth-like planet was discovered – and it is not so far away.

People traveling at the speed of light would have traveled just 41 years to the constellation Octan, where LHS 475 b is found. The James Webb telescope also allows scientists to observe distant planets more closely.

LHS 475 b would have almost exactly the same mass as Earth. So gravity on the planet shouldn’t be a problem for humans. The question remains what the atmosphere looks like.

Here the NASA researchers can only confirm that they have not found a thick methane atmosphere, such as that on Titan, a moon of Saturn, that would make life there impossible for humans. Data analysis takes more time to accurately determine the composition, writes NASA.

Nevertheless, this first study of a planet by James-Webb raises high hopes for the future. “Webb is moving us ever closer to a new understanding of Earth-like worlds beyond the solar system, and the mission has only just begun,” NASA astrophysicist Mark Clampin told the Independent.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the first of its kind. With the instruments, researchers can for the first time precisely determine the composition of the atmosphere and create much more precise images of the observed planets.

The search for planets similar to Earth and, at best, would even support human life on them has paid off several times. This is according to the “Habitable Exoplanets Catalog” from the University of Arecibo in Puerto Rico proximal b the next, probably colonizable planet. This is only 4.2 light-years away and has an Earth Compareity Index (ESI) of 0.87.

A little further away is 11 light-years Ross 128 b. This planet has almost one and a half times the mass of Earth and an ESI of 0.86. The most Earth-like planet yet is also relatively close at 12 light-years. It is Teegarden b with an ESI of 0.95. (lion)