The first exoplanet discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope is orbiting a star 41 light years from Earth.
In terms of distance from Earth, the planet LHS 475b is very close, even though traveling at the speed of light would take just over 40 years.
LHS 475b, a rocky planet orbiting its closest star in the Octans constellation, is about 1% smaller in diameter than Earth.
The JWST can only characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets the size of Earth (a world beyond our own solar system).
However, even though the JWST data analysis team from John Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is unable to tell whether the planet has an atmosphere, it knows know some gases are absent.
“There are some terrestrial-type atmospheres that we can rule out. It can’t have a thick methane-dominated atmosphere, similar to that of Saturn’s moon Titan,” says Jacob Lustig-Yaeger from the APL.
Exoplanets are constantly found; in 2022, 336 were located between 16 and 27,000 light years from Earth.
In reality, NASA's TESS's follow-up observations led to the finding of a second Earth-sized planet the day after the JWST's exoplanet (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite).
The TOI 700 red dwarf star in the Dorado constellation is around 100 light years away, and this rocky planet is the fifth one to be found there. Every 28 days, it completes a full orbit around its star.
The planet's surface might be covered in liquid water if the star TOI 700 e is in its sun's optimistic habitable zone.
Unlike three of its first-discovered siblings, which are too near to their star for water to condense, this one has siblings.
The neighboring TOI 700d orbits in the star's conservative habitable zone, where the likelihood of finding liquid water and an atmosphere similar to Earth is increased.
Given the addition of the e planet to the original four exoplanets discovered a year ago, NASA believes that ongoing follow-up observations of TOI 700 will result in the discovery of other exoplanets.