Researchers have declared the first ever exoplanet to be identified with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The rocky planet circles a distant red dwarf star so closely that it orbits the star once every two Earth-days.

Earth is one of a large number of planets that inhabit the Milky Way galaxy and it is unique in its own way. Outside of our own solar system, there are exoplanets which orbit distant stars.

Thanks to today’s powerful telescopes, astronomers have confirmed the existence of more than 5,000 extraterrestrial planets, each boasting remarkable attributes that can be quite unfamiliar.

Astronomers have used the JWST’s sharp vision to make the first verified finding of an external planet.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) discovered the well-known planet LHS 475 b. It was created to observe a large field of view in order to detect minor, periodic dips in the light of faraway stars that might indicate the existence of a planet orbiting in front of the observatory and its cosmic chaperone.

A unique light pattern was spotted from a red dwarf star located 41 light years from our planet in the constellation Octans. Once the observation was initially made, the James Webb Space Telescope was ordered to look at the far-off star on August 31 of the prior year.

The landmark telescope’s findings showed that a rocky exoplanet approximately the same size as our Earth is orbiting a red dwarf. The intensity of the star’s light dips when this planet, LHS 475 b, passes by, demonstrating that it moves in an extremely short orbit, even closer than Mercury’s orbit around the Sun.

The orbit of the planet is very close to the parent star, which is comparatively colder, and it takes only two days on Earth for the planet to fully circle the star.

Despite the great JWST information, the team is still unsure if the newly discovered planet has an atmosphere. On the other hand, the researchers have been able to disprove the presence of certain substances, including methane.

Erin May, an astrophysicist from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, mentioned in a NASA release that the information collected by the observatory was very impressive. She went on to explain that the telescope is highly perceptive and is able to pick up a wide selection of molecules. However, it is too early on to make any solid declarations about the atmosphere of the planet.

It could still be the case that the world’s atmosphere consists solely of carbon dioxide. This would be challenging to spot, but the resultant heat-trapping effect could help explain why the planet’s temperature is hundreds of degrees above Earth’s - this despite it being around a star that is half as hot as the Sun.

Astronomers are eager to explore distant solar systems to uncover the mysteries of planet formation and development. The ultimate achievement in exoplanet research would be locating a planet with the capacity of sustaining liquid water on its surface in the habitable zone, allowing the possibility of alien life.

The JWST is a remarkable instrument that can help us investigate the atmospheres of exoplanets and seek indications of life, as part of our endeavor to uncover the unknown in outer space and determine whether there is other life beyond our own.

The primary results from a rocky planet which is the same size as Earth have opened the way to more studies of rocky planet atmospheres with the Webb Telescope, according to Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at the NASA Headquarters in Washington. He went on to say that the Webb Telescope is getting us ever closer to more knowledge of Earth-like planets outside the solar system and that the mission has only just begun.