James Webb's historic discovery: Light found on an Earth-like planet (video)

This discovery, which marks a high point in James Webb's short but illustrious career since its launch in 2021, highlights the telescope's unparalleled ability to uncover the secrets of the universe.

In an unprecedented scientific discovery, the space telescope James Webb (JWST) from NASA Light emanating from… Earth-like planet It is located outside our solar system.

the James Webbthe successor to the Spitzer Space Telescope NASAHe has made a decisive contribution to the advancement of understanding to being. From recording the appearance of stars in the distance 1300 light years In recording the final stages of celestial bodies that were on the verge of extinction, his contribution was enormous. The telescope's ability to capture high-resolution images of galaxies, black holes and other cosmic phenomena has greatly enriched astrophysics research.

Building on the legacy of the Spitzer Space Telescope, which discovered seven planets orbiting the star Trappist-1 About eight years ago, James Webb He zoomed in on one of these planets, known as TRAPPIST-1b. This planet, whose composition and size are similar to Earth, is about 40.7 light-years away from our planet.

the Light detection by TRAPPIST-1b This is a historic achievement because it represents the first time that light has been observed coming from an exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system. This discovery has profound implications for the search for conditions that could support life outside Earth. It's a big leap forward in our quest to understand whether planets orbiting small, active stars like TRAPPIST-1 can maintain atmospheres suitable for life.

In its press release NASA He highlights the importance of this discovery, noting its implications for Webb's future role in characterizing temperate Earth-sized exoplanets using the mid-infrared instrument (MIRI). Thomas Green, an astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center and lead author of the study published in Nature, praised the telescope's mid-infrared capabilities, which made this groundbreaking observation possible.

Despite this exciting discovery, researchers found that TRAPPIST-1b has no atmosphere, with one hemisphere living in permanent darkness and the other permanently facing its star. But this result does not diminish the importance of the discovery. As Green points out, stars like TRAPPIST-1 are more common in our galaxy than Sun-like stars, and are more likely to host rocky planets.