NASA telescope identifies exoplanet with surface similar to Mercury

THEAstronomers were able to observe the exoplanet LHS 3844 b thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, from the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

According to the news agency Reutersa study published on May 4 in Nature Astronomy Magazine analyzed data collected by Webb and identified that LHS 3844 b has a diameter about 30% larger than that of Earth.

The surface of the exoplanet – which is a planet that does not belong to the Solar System – resembles that of Mercury. It orbits a star smaller and less luminous than the Sun, located about 49 light years from Earth.

In an interview with Reutersastronomer Laura Kreidberg, director general of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and one of the study’s authors, stated that LHS 3844 b “is not a pleasant place.”

“It’s a hellish, barren rock, much more like Mercury than Earth. There’s no trace of atmosphere. Instead, we see a dark, probably ancient surface. Imagine a bare rock traveling through space for billions of years. You wouldn’t want to go there,” Laura said.

According to the study, the combination of the absence of a noticeable atmosphere and the extreme temperatures – one side registers up to 725ºC while the other receives practically no heat – indicates that it is probably uninhabitable. The surface is covered in blackened regolith, a loose, fragmented rocky material that overlies solid bedrock and results from eons of continuous bombardment by stellar radiation and micrometeorite impacts.

The exoplanet is also called Kua’kua, a term that means “butterfly” in an indigenous Costa Rican dialect.

Collecting this information was only possible thanks to Webb’s infrared observation capabilities, which helped scientists discern the chemical composition and internal dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres.

THE Reutersastronomer Sebastian Zieba, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and also author of the study, said that Webb allows scientists to directly study the geology and surface composition of exoplanets, something that was previously challenging.

“It’s as if we’ve suddenly cleaned our glasses and can see the planets clearly for the first time,” Laura added.