|
James Webb Telescope discovers planet 'almost exactly' the same as Earth only 41 light years away
Yeah? That's what they said about Planet Four, and look how that turned out.by Rachel Lang [UNILAD] NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has locked eyes with a planet that could one day be our new home. Okay, that might be jumping the gun just a tad, but LHS 475 b is almost exactly the same size as our home planet, clocking in at 99 per cent of Earth’s diameter. The planet also boasts a rocky dry land, which NASA reckons is also rather similar to Earth. But before we start sending out ships to colonise the planet, NASA needs to ascertain what sort of atmosphere the planet has. We also need a significant development in technology to allow humans to travel that far...but that sort of finer detail is future NASA's problem. Space science boffins haven't yet been able to conclude what the planet's atmosphere is made out of. They have, however, been able to rule out what it isn't. Basically, they've concluded the atmosphere is not made up of a thick methane, similar to Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters Mark Clampin said the telescope's first discovery of a new planet will open multiple avenues for researchers trying to understand what lies amongst the stars. Posted by: badanov 2023-01-13 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=655417 |