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BBC News
27-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
James Webb space telescope spots its first exoplanet TWA 7b
The James Webb Space Telescope been has been sending incredible images of space back to Earth and helping scientists learn more about the universe since its launch in now there is a new discovery to add to the telescope, which can see further into the universe than anything before it, has just spotted its first exoplanet. TWA 7b, is located around a hundred light years from Earth and is thought to be a relatively young 6.4 million years old. What did the James Webb telescope spot? Until now, the James Webb space telescope has mostly been used to learn more about already known exoplanets, rather than look for new for the first time, the powerful telescope has discovered an exoplanet not previously known to international team, led by Dr Anne-Marie Lagrange, researcher at the Paris Observatory and Grenoble Alpes University in France, decided to point the telescope Webb at a star called TWA 7 - around a hundred light years from hi-tech instruments on board, the space telescope was able to block out light from stars, helping it to observe nearby fainter helped it spot the exoplanet TWA 7b, a young gas giant planet roughly the size of Saturn - our solar system's second-largest planet - orbiting a star about 110 light-years from Earth in the constellation a statement, France's CNRS research centre said that the discovery "represents a first for the telescope."Dr. Anne-Marie Lagrange explained: "Webb opens a new window - in terms of mass and the distance of a planet to the star - of exoplanets that had not been accessible to observations so far. "This is important to explore the diversity of exoplanetary systems and understand how they form and evolve," she are now looking to find out more about TWA 7b and hope that the telescope could help them discover "Earth-like planets" one day. What is an exoplanet? Exoplanets are planets that orbit a different star than our Sun - in a different solar system to though scientists thought for a long time that they must exist, it was only in 1992 that the first exoplanet was work to find more exoplanets has produced some exciting results 2015, scientists discovered the exoplanet Kepler-452b, which was described as 'Earth's cousin' because of its close similarities to our experts say exoplanets are really important because they raise the possibility that life could exist in other solar systems.
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
James Webb telescope captures its first direct image of a glowing exoplanet the size of Saturn
It's provided us with stunning pictures of distant galaxies, nebulae and dying stars. But now, for the first time ever, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured an unprecedented image of an exoplanet outside our solar system. The planet, dubbed TWA 7b, was found orbiting a young red dwarf star about 111 light-years from Earth. Scientists estimate the celestial body is roughly the same mass as that of Saturn, or 100 times larger than Earth. That makes TWA 7b the smallest exoplanet ever directly observed - 10 times less massive than previous discoveries. Although the JWST has discovered hundreds of exoplanets, these have all been found indirectly by carefully watching the host star. However, by simulating the effects of an eclipse, scientists were able to filter out the excess starlight and spot the exoplanet's faint infrared glow. Lead researcher Dr Anne-Marie Lagrange, an astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory, told MailOnline: 'Detecting exoplanets is not easy in general. Imaging them is even more challenging. This is why the lightest planets imaged before TWA 7b [were] massive giants, a few times Jupiter's mass.' This image combines ground-based data from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and data from the JWST. The star has been hidden and marked with a white star symbol. The blue region shows the debris field spotted by the VLT and the orange circle is the exoplanet as seen by the JWST Exoplanets, any planet outside the solar system, are small and appear to be extremely close to their star when seen from Earth. Since they don't give off much light of their own, this makes them extremely hard to see against the bright background. Scientists normally find exoplanets using the 'transit method', which involves watching the planet pass in front of its parent star and measuring how much the light dims. However, 20 years ago Dr Lagrange and her colleagues developed a technique using a device called a 'coronagraph' to block out the light of distant stars. This allowed her to see the rings of material floating around distant stars for the very first time. Dr Lagrange and her colleagues decided to focus on stars that they could see from the 'top-down', looking down on the star's pole to give a bird's eye view of the planetary system. They also chose to look for young stars since these have rings of material which are still glowing with heat, making them easier to spot. Astronomers already knew that the 6.4-million-year-old TWA 7 star had three distinct rings of debris which could be seen from the top down - making it an ideal target for the JWST. Using the coronagraph mounted on the space telescope the researchers blocked out the light from the star and then removed any residual glow using image processing. This revealed a faint source of infrared radiation within TWA 7's debris field, about 50 times farther from the star than Earth is to the Sun. This source was located in a 'hole' within one particularly narrow dust ring. That told Dr Lagrange that she was likely looking at a young planet which was just starting to affect debris in its orbital path. Although there is a very slim possibility that this signal could be a galaxy far in the background, initial analysis suggests it is likely to be a young, cold planet with a temperature of 47°C (120°F). Dr Lagrange says: 'Clearly it formed in a disk a few million years ago. It has gravitational interactions with the debris disk.' Dr Lagrange also says that a thin ring of material forming around the planet's orbit, known as a Trojan Ring, was predicted by models but had never been observed before. This discovery is exciting because it is the first time an exoplanet the size of the planets in our solar system has been directly observed. This is the smallest exoplanet ever directly observed but the JWST (pictured) has the potential to image planets just 10 per cent of Jupiter's mass Exoplanets Dr Lagrange has directly observed using Earth-based telescopes are giants, many times the mass of Jupiter. But the JWST has the potential to spot exoplanets just a tenth of Jupiter's mass. Scientists could use these observations to help uncover the mysteries of how our own solar system formed. However, Dr Lagrange says they cannot yet directly observe 'Earth-like planets in the habitable zone'. That means the hunt for life beyond our solar system will still need to wait for even more powerful telescopes such as NASA's proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory. Scientists study the atmosphere of distant exoplanets using enormous space satellites like Hubble Distant stars and their orbiting planets often have conditions unlike anything we see in our atmosphere. To understand these new world's, and what they are made of, scientists need to be able to detect what their atmospheres consist of. They often do this by using a telescope similar to Nasa's Hubble Telescope. These enormous satellites scan the sky and lock on to exoplanets that Nasa think may be of interest. Here, the sensors on board perform different forms of analysis. One of the most important and useful is called absorption spectroscopy. This form of analysis measures the light that is coming out of a planet's atmosphere. Every gas absorbs a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens a black line appears on a complete spectrum. These lines correspond to a very specific molecule, which indicates it's presence on the planet. They are often called Fraunhofer lines after the German astronomer and physicist that first discovered them in 1814. By combining all the different wavelengths of lights, scientists can determine all the chemicals that make up the atmosphere of a planet. The key is that what is missing, provides the clues to find out what is present. It is vitally important that this is done by space telescopes, as the atmosphere of Earth would then interfere. Absorption from chemicals in our atmosphere would skew the sample, which is why it is important to study the light before it has had chance to reach Earth. This is often used to look for helium, sodium and even oxygen in alien atmospheres.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Smallest Alien World Ever Seen Spotted by JWST in Stunning First
JWST has made another breakthrough. Around a newly formed star just 111 light-years away, the powerful space telescope has officially discovered its first exoplanet. It's called TWA-7b, and it's the smallest world that humanity has ever directly imaged. TWA-7b is a cold gas giant with about a third of the mass of Jupiter, orbiting its red dwarf host star at a staggering distance – 52 times farther than Earth orbits the Sun. In our Solar System, that distance would place TWA-7b out in the Kuiper Belt, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Related: Stunning Direct Images of Alien Worlds Are Detailed Enough to Reveal Clouds The planet isn't the only remarkable thing here. So detailed are the observations that a team led by astronomer Anne-Marie Lagrange of the Paris Observatory in France has been able to confirm predictions about how planets form, and their interactions with their environment. The discovery, the researchers say, demonstrates the promise of JWST, not just for studying exoplanets indirectly, but for finding and studying them directly, beyond the range other instruments can reach. "The present results show that the JWST Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) has opened up a new window in the study of sub-Jupiter-mass planets using direct imaging," they write in their paper. "Indeed, TWA-7b (about 100 times the mass of Earth) is at least 10 times lighter than the exoplanets directly imaged so far, and planets as light as 25 to 30 Earth masses could have been detected if present." To date, nearly 6,000 exoplanets have been confirmed, out there in the Milky Way galaxy. That's pretty exciting, considering how hard they are to discern. They're very small, very dim, and very far away; the vast majority of them have only ever been measured indirectly, based on changes their presence wreaks on the light of their stars. We've only actually directly seen around 80 exoplanets. The star TWA-7 is perfectly positioned in space for attempting to directly image an exoplanet. It's around 6.4 million years old, which is the star equivalent of a toddler – so young that it's still surrounded by a leftover disk of the material that fed the baby star as it grew. It's from these disks that planets are born. Material clumps together as it orbits the star, gradually building up until there's enough mass to constitute a world. This process creates gaps in the disk where the new planet carves out a space and creates rings, 'shepherding' the material on either side of the gap, a lot like the shepherd moons of the rings of Saturn. Well, so we think. As Lagrange and her colleagues note, "no planet responsible for these features has been detected yet." TWA-7 is oriented in such a way that its pole is pointing at Earth. That means that astronomers can see the full disk of material around it, divided into three distinct rings. Lagrange and her colleagues pointed JWST at this disk, looking to see if they could identify an exoplanet in one of the gaps between the rings, creating a cavity for itself in the material around TWA-7. "We unambiguously detected a source 1.5 arcseconds from the star, which is best interpreted as a cold, sub-Jupiter-mass planet," they write. Their analysis suggests that this world is about the same mass as Saturn. It's a marvelous discovery, one that dramatically extends the lower mass range for directly detectable exoplanets. It's also possibly only scratching the surface; the researchers believe that JWST is capable of observing worlds that are much less massive than TWA-7b. The telescope is often used to analyze exoplanet atmospheres based on the way starlight changes when it passes through. Direct imaging is an entirely different way of studying exoplanets that can reveal details that are difficult to obtain in any other way. The researchers conclude that TWA-7b is an exciting prospect for further study. "TWA-7b is very well suited for further detailed dynamical modelling of disk-planet interactions," they observe. "As it is angularly well resolved from the star, TWA-7b is suited for direct spectroscopic investigations, providing the opportunity to study the interior and the atmosphere of a non-irradiated sub-Jupiter-mass, cold (about 320 K) exoplanet, and start comparative studies with our much older and cooler Solar System giants." The research has been published in Nature. Record-Sized Comet Seen Belching Jets From Surface as It Heads Our Way Behold! World's Largest Camera Snaps Millions of Galaxies in First Pics 2032 'City-Killer' Impact Threatens Earth's Satellites, Study Finds
Scottish Sun
25-06-2025
- Science
- Scottish Sun
Eerie hidden world discovered by alien-hunting space telescope is first of its kind – and scientists nearly missed it
While thousands of exoplanets - planets outside of our solar system - have been discovered, getting pictures of them still proves tricky ON THE ROCKS Eerie hidden world discovered by alien-hunting space telescope is first of its kind – and scientists nearly missed it THE James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first-ever exoplanet - a distant world hidden by the glare of its nearest star. The landmark discovery marks a new era for alien-hunters, according to a new study from the Paris Observatory and the University Grenoble Alpes, published in Nature today. 2 The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been floating in space since 2021, and is now just over 1million miles away from Earth Credit: NASA The newly discovered exoplanet, named TWA 7 b, is in the debris disk of a young star. These disks are made up of dust and small rocks that are left over after a planet has formed. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been floating in space since 2021, and is now just over 1million miles away from Earth. For scale, that's more than 4.5 times the distance between our planet and the Moon. While it has detected other planets - these have all be previously known to astronomers on the ground. TWA 7 b is pretty big and is a similar size to Saturn, the second largest planet in our solar system. However, it still could have been easily missed, as researchers say it is one of the lightest planets ever detected. JWST's keen eye is set to enable scientists to capture images of less massive planets that are more comparable to Earth in size. While thousands of exoplanets - planets outside of our solar system - have been discovered, getting pictures of them still proves tricky. Many exoplanets lurk in the shadows of their nearest star, and therefore don't stand out enough to be visible, according to researchers. Best-ever sign of ALIEN life found on distant planet as scientists '99.7% sure of astounding biological activity signal' However, a French-produced coronagraph onboard the JWST - a tool used to block the light of a star to see nearby planets - made the new discovery possible. While it doesn't provide a direct picture of the planet, you can see its effects in the circles labelled CC #1 in the image. By masking the star, scientists have better hope of observing the objects surrounding it. The James Webb Space Telescope: an overview The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space-based observatory that is designed to complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. It is named after James E. Webb, who was the administrator of Nasa from 1961 to 1968 and played a pivotal role in the Apollo program. JWST is equipped with a 6.5-meter primary mirror, which is significantly larger than Hubble's 2.4-meter mirror, allowing it to observe much fainter objects at greater distances. It operates in the infrared spectrum, which enables it to peer through dust clouds that obscure visible light and to observe the earliest galaxies that formed after the Big Bang. The telescope was launched on 25th December 2021 and is positioned at the second Lagrange point (L2), approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This location provides a stable environment with minimal interference from Earth's heat and light. JWST's scientific goals include studying the formation of stars and planets, understanding the evolution of galaxies, and investigating the potential for life in other parts of the universe. It is a collaborative project involving Nasa, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The debris disk surrounding TWA 7's star is very clear, coming up a bright whiteish yellow in the image. It forms a near perfect disk, except for the top right corner along the R2 dotted line. It's here where the exoplanet is hiding, nearly completely obscured by the brightness of its star and nearby debris. Finding new planets in the universe helps astronomers on Earth understand more about how solar systems like ours came to be. All you need to know about planets in our solar system Our solar system is made up of nine planets with Earth the third closest to the Sun. But each planet has its own quirks, so find out more about them all... How old is Earth? Plus other facts on our planet How many moons does Mercury have? What colour is Venus? How far away is Mars to Earth? And other facts on the red planet How big is Jupiter? How many moons does Saturn have? Does Uranus have rings? How many moons does Neptune have? How big is Pluto? How hot is the Sun?
The Sun
25-06-2025
- Science
- The Sun
Eerie hidden world discovered by alien-hunting space telescope is first of its kind – and scientists nearly missed it
THE James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first-ever exoplanet - a distant world hidden by the glare of its nearest star. The landmark discovery marks a new era for alien -hunters, according to a new study from the Paris Observatory and the University Grenoble Alpes, published in Nature today. The newly discovered exoplanet, named TWA 7 b, is in the debris disk of a young star. These disks are made up of dust and small rocks that are left over after a planet has formed. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been floating in space since 2021, and is now just over 1million miles away from Earth. For scale, that's more than 4.5 times the distance between our planet and the Moon. While it has detected other planets - these have all be previously known to astronomers on the ground. TWA 7 b is pretty big and is a similar size to Saturn, the second largest planet in our solar system. However, it still could have been easily missed, as researchers say it is one of the lightest planets ever detected. JWST's keen eye is set to enable scientists to capture images of less massive planets that are more comparable to Earth in size. While thousands of exoplanets - planets outside of our solar system - have been discovered, getting pictures of them still proves tricky. Many exoplanets lurk in the shadows of their nearest star, and therefore don't stand out enough to be visible, according to researchers. Best-ever sign of ALIEN life found on distant planet as scientists '99.7% sure of astounding biological activity signal' However, a French-produced coronagraph onboard the JWST - a tool used to block the light of a star to see nearby planets - made the new discovery possible. While it doesn't provide a direct picture of the planet, you can see its effects in the circles labelled CC #1 in the image. By masking the star, scientists have better hope of observing the objects surrounding it. The James Webb Space Telescope: an overview The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space-based observatory that is designed to complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. It is named after James E. Webb, who was the administrator of Nasa from 1961 to 1968 and played a pivotal role in the Apollo program. JWST is equipped with a 6.5-meter primary mirror, which is significantly larger than Hubble's 2.4-meter mirror, allowing it to observe much fainter objects at greater distances. It operates in the infrared spectrum, which enables it to peer through dust clouds that obscure visible light and to observe the earliest galaxies that formed after the Big Bang. The telescope was launched on 25th December 2021 and is positioned at the second Lagrange point (L2), approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This location provides a stable environment with minimal interference from Earth's heat and light. JWST's scientific goals include studying the formation of stars and planets, understanding the evolution of galaxies, and investigating the potential for life in other parts of the universe. It is a collaborative project involving Nasa, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The debris disk surrounding TWA 7's star is very clear, coming up a bright whiteish yellow in the image. It forms a near perfect disk, except for the top right corner along the R2 dotted line. It's here where the exoplanet is hiding, nearly completely obscured by the brightness of its star and nearby debris. Finding new planets in the universe helps astronomers on Earth understand more about how solar systems like ours came to be. 2
