LHS 475 b: Earth-Sized Exoplanet
Illustration Credit:
DeepAI's Fantasy World Generator
If you could stand on exoplanet LHS 475 b, what might you see?
No one knows for sure but pictured here is an
interesting guess made by an Earth-based
artificial intelligence (AI) engine.
The existence of the
exoplanet was indicated in data taken by the Earth-orbiting
TESS satellite but
confirmed and further investigated only this year by the
near-Earth Sun-orbiting
James Webb Space Telescope.
What is known for sure is that
LHS 475
b
has a mass very similar to
our Earth and closely orbits a
small red star about 40 light years away.
The featured
AI-illustrated guess depicts a plausibly
rugged Earth-like landscape replete with
molten lava and with the central red star rising in the distance.
Webb data does not as yet reveal, however, whether
LHS 475 b has an atmosphere.
One of
Webb’s science objectives
is to follow up previous discoveries of distant
exoplanets to better discern their potential for
developing life.