The Extreme Thermal Divide and Scorched Crust of Exoplanet LHS 475 b
Located approximately 41 light-years from Earth in the constellation Octans , LHS 475 b stands as one of the most precisely measured rocky worlds outside our solar system. Discovered via the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and subsequently confirmed through high-precision transmission spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), this terrestrial exoplanet possesses a radius almost identical to Earth’s—roughly 99 percent of our home planet’s diameter. However, any structural resemblance to Earth ends at its dimensions. Orbiting a cool M-dwarf star at a distance of just 3.1 million kilometers, LHS 475 b completes a full revolution every 48.6 hours, locked in a tight gravitational embrace that forces the planet into perpetual synchronous rotation. Because LHS 475 b is tidally locked , one hemisphere perpetually bakes under the relentless illumination of its parent star, while the opposing side faces the permanent freeze of interstellar space. This orbital confi...