Latest news with #WebbSpaceTelescope
Time of India
6 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope discovers new planet TWA 7b orbiting a young star 111 light-years away
The James Webb Space Telescope has officially discovered its first new planet after three years of supporting astronomers in studying known exoplanets. This young world is a groundbreaking discovery designated TWA 7b because it is the lowest-mass planet ever directly imaged outside the solar system. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now With an estimated mass of just 0.3 times that of Jupiter (or about 100 times that of Earth), TWA 7b is ten times lighter than any previously directly imaged exoplanet. James Webb Space Telescope captures young exoplanet TWA 7b The young exoplanet discovered by JWST: TWA 7b orbits a young, low-mass star called CE Antliae (also known as TWA 7), located approximately 111 light-years from Earth in the constellation Antlia. This star, discovered in 1999, is part of the TW Hydrae Association, a group of stars known for their youth. CE Antliae is thought to be just 6.4 million years old—a cosmic infant compared to our 4.6-billion-year-old Sun. Its youthful nature, along with its nearly pole-on orientation as seen from Earth, made it an ideal candidate for imaging with JWST. How James Webb Space Telescope spotted a new planet hiding in a dusty ring The key to discovering TWA 7b lies in infrared imaging. Young, low-mass planets like TWA 7b emit thermal radiation in the infrared spectrum, which is JWST's specialty. The telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), along with its coronagraph, played a pivotal role. A coronagraph allows astronomers to block out the overwhelming light of a star, making it possible to detect faint nearby objects such as exoplanets. Using high-contrast imaging techniques, the JWST team was able to detect a faint infrared source embedded in the debris disc around TWA 7. This faint source turned out to be located in a gap between rings of dust—an area theorised to be carved out by a planet's gravitational influence. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Simulations confirmed that the presence of a Saturn-mass planet in that exact location could explain the observed structure. James Webb Space Telescope finds TWA 7b in a dust gap The disc around TWA 7 is not a random cloud of debris—it contains three distinct rings, with gaps in between. One of these gaps has a narrow ring flanked by two dust-free regions, a signature commonly associated with the gravitational forces of an orbiting planet. The infrared glow detected by JWST corresponds precisely to this ring gap, and its brightness, temperature (around 320 Kelvin or 47°C), and orbital distance (about 50 astronomical units from the star) all match what scientists expected of a planet in this region. What makes this discovery so significant The discovery of TWA 7b marks a milestone in exoplanet science for several reasons: First planet discovered by JWST using direct imaging Lowest-mass exoplanet ever directly imaged Potential first observational evidence of a planet influencing a debris disc New insights into planet formation in very young systems Astronomers believe that the structures seen in debris discs around young stars are blueprints for planetary formation. These rings and gaps represent zones where material is either accumulating to form planets or being cleared out by their gravitational pull. TWA 7b may be the first direct proof of this process in action. How James Webb Space Telescope new imaging techniques revealed the hidden planet TWA 7b To detect TWA 7b, researchers used advanced image subtraction methods. Removing residual starlight, they could separate the planet from Solar System bodies and background galaxies. This finding illustrates the way that new observing methods and instruments on JWST—such as the coronagraph and MIRI—are opening up our ability to discover hitherto inaccessible exoplanets. Due to JWST's mid-infrared sensitivity, it's now able to detect planets as massive and as cold as Saturn, a tremendous improvement in direct imaging. Future of exoplanet discovery with James Webb Space Telescope With its ability to suppress starlight and pick up the faint heat signatures of small, cold planets, JWST is opening a new frontier in exoplanet discovery. Astronomers are now optimistic that even lighter planets—possibly Neptune-mass or even super-Earths—could soon be within reach. Future follow-up observations will aim to: Confirm the planetary nature of TWA 7b Measure its exact mass, atmosphere, and temperature Study the dynamic interactions between the planet and its debris disc Look for Trojan dust clouds—collections of material that may share the planet's orbit. Also Read |
Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Science
- Hindustan Times
James Webb Space Telescope spots its 1st alien planet: ‘TWA 7b'
Paris : The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first exoplanet, astronomers said on Wednesday, capturing rare direct images of the relatively small world in the Earth's galactic backyard. An image of the protoplanetary disk around the star TWA 7, recorded using the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope's SPHERE instrument, is seen with an image captured with the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI instrument overlayed in this image released on June 25, 2025.(Reuters) The telescope, which can see farther into the universe than anything before it, has turbocharged the search for planets beyond the Solar System since coming online in 2022. Until now, however, its deep gaze has mostly been used to probe already known exoplanets — to find out key information such as the atmospheric composition — rather than tracking down new worlds. The discovery of exoplanet TWA 7b, revealed in a study in the journal Nature, 'represents a first for the telescope', France's CNRS research centre said in a statement. Webb 'has spent an enormous amount of time observing planets that have never been directly imaged,' lead study author Anne-Marie Lagrange of the Paris Observatory said. Capturing direct images of faraway planets is difficult because they are 'very faint' due to a lack of heat, Lagrange said. Even worse, she added, 'we're blinded by the light of the star they orbit.' But Webb has a way to get around the problem. An attachment to Webb's MIRI instrument called a coronagraph masks the star, creating an effect similar to a solar eclipse. The telescope's infrared vision can then peer through and spot the planet. Astronomers pointed Webb at the star TWA 7, which is around a hundred light years from Earth — relatively nearby in the universe. The star, which was first spotted by the Hubble space telescope in 1999, was thought to be a promising target for two reasons. It is just 6.4 million years old — a baby compared to the Sun's 4.5 billion years — and still surrounded by a massive disc of gas and dust where planets are thought to form. The three rings around the star had previously been spotted by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. But inside an otherwise empty section of the second ring, the Webb telescope detected something particularly bright. Astronomers ruled out that the light was coming from an object at the edge of the Solar System, or from a distant galaxy behind the star. That could mean only that the light source was a relatively small and cold planet, with a mass at least 10 times lighter than any other exoplanet directly imaged so far, according to the study. AFP.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope just found its first exoplanet
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured an image of an exoplanet for the first time since it began science operations in July of 2022. The previously unknown celestial body has been named 'TWA 7 b.' It is located some 110 light-years away from Earth around the constellation Antlia and orbits the young nearby star TWA 7. 'After eliminating the possibility of a potential observation bias, the scientists concluded that it was most probably an exoplanet,' the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a statement. The image was taken using a coronagraph on the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument, which is also known as 'MIRI.' Coronagraphs are used to block out the light of stars such as the sun in order to observe fainter nearby objects. The findings, spearheaded by a researcher at the center, were published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The center developed the coronagraph, alongside the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Looking within a disk of rocky debris and dust around the star, scientists have previously identified concentric ring-like structures within them. Until now, astronomers had suspected the structures resulted from gravitational interaction between the building blocks of planets and unidentified planets. TWA 7, which was one of two systems they looked at, has three rings. 'One of the two systems, named TWA 7, has three distinct rings, one of which is especially narrow, and surrounded by two empty areas with almost no matter,' the center said. The image Webb took revealed the potential source. 'Detailed simulations have indeed confirmed the formation of a thin ring and a 'hole' at the exact planet's position, which perfectly corresponds to the observations made with the JWST,' the center noted. With a mass comparable to Saturn, TWA 7 b is easier to detect in the mid-infrared thermal range because it is some 10 times lighter than those previously snapped in images. The recently formed planets in these systems are also still hot, making them brighter than their older counterparts. There are currently more than 5,900 confirmed exoplanets that exist beyond our solar system. Most of them orbit other stars and the majority of those that have been discovered are in our Milky Way galaxy. But, NASA believes that billions exist. Exoplanets help to better understand how planetary systems form including our own. However, they are often drowned out by starlight. Scientists hope to capture images of planets with even less mass in the future using Webb. 'This result marks a new step in the research and direct imaging of increasingly small exoplanets, which are more similar to the Earth than to the gas giants of the Solar System,' the center wrote.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
James Webb telescope discovers its first exoplanet
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first exoplanet, astronomers said Wednesday, capturing rare direct images of the relatively small world in the Earth's galactic backyard. The telescope, which can see farther into the universe than anything before it, has turbocharged the search for planets beyond the Solar System since coming online in 2022. Until now, however, its deep gaze has mostly been used to probe already known exoplanets -- to find out key information such as the atmospheric composition -- rather than tracking down new worlds. The discovery of exoplanet TWA 7b, revealed in a study in the journal Nature, "represents a first for the telescope", France's CNRS research centre said in a statement. The large majority of the nearly 6,000 exoplanets found so far have been identified from the light they blot out when they pass in front of their star, rather than from direct images of the planet. Webb "has spent an enormous amount of time observing planets that have never been directly imaged," lead study author Anne-Marie Lagrange of the Paris Observatory told AFP. - 'Blinded by the light' - Capturing direct images of faraway planets is difficult because they are "very faint" due to a lack of heat, Lagrange said. Even worse, she added, "we're blinded by the light of the star they orbit." But Webb has a way to get around the problem. An attachment to Webb's MIRI instrument called a coronagraph masks the star, creating an effect similar to a solar eclipse. The telescope's infrared vision can then peer through and spot the planet. Astronomers pointed Webb at the star TWA 7, which is around a hundred light years from Earth -- relatively nearby in the universe. The star, which was first spotted by the Hubble space telescope in 1999, was thought to be a promising target for two reasons. It is just 6.4 million years old -- a baby compared to the Sun's 4.5 billion years -- and still surrounded by a massive disc of gas and dust where planets are thought to form. And from the direction of Earth, the disc is seen from above, giving a good view of its rings. The three rings around the star, which stretch more than 100 times the distance separating the Sun and Earth, had previously been spotted by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. But inside an otherwise empty section of the second ring, the Webb telescope detected something particularly bright. Astronomers ruled out that the light was coming from an object at the edge of the Solar System, or from a distant galaxy behind the star. That could mean only that the light source was a relatively small and cold planet, with a mass at least 10 times lighter than any other exoplanet directly imaged so far, according to the study. - The hunt for smaller worlds - The researchers estimated that the planet's mass was similar to that of Saturn, a gas giant that weighs only a third of Jupiter, the biggest planet in the Solar System. Webb has increased the ability to detect exoplanets via direct images by a factor of 10, Lagrange said. That is important because smaller, rocky planets similar to Earth or Mars are the ultimate target in the search for habitable worlds outside of the Solar System. Lagrange said she would be delighted to discover "Earth-like planets" one day. But she said astronomers needed to study all kinds of planets -- and to understand how planetary systems form -- to know whether the life-hosting Solar System is unique. In the future, astronomers expect the Webb telescope will be able to spot planets even smaller than TWA 7b. But directly capturing images of faraway worlds similar to Earth will require even more telescopic power, such as from he Extremely Large Telescope that is scheduled to come online in Chile in 2028. pcl-dl/js
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope just found its first exoplanet
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured an image of an exoplanet for the first time since it began science operations in July of 2022. The previously unknown celestial body has been named 'TWA 7 b.' It is located some 110 light-years away from Earth around the constellation Antlia and orbits the young nearby star TWA 7. 'After eliminating the possibility of a potential observation bias, the scientists concluded that it was most probably an exoplanet,' the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a statement. The image was taken using a coronagraph on the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument, which is also known as 'MIRI.' Coronagraphs are used to block out the light of stars such as the sun in order to observe fainter nearby objects. The findings, spearheaded by a researcher at the center, were published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The center developed the coronagraph, alongside the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Looking within a disk of rocky debris and dust around the star, scientists have previously identified concentric ring-like structures within them. Until now, astronomers had suspected the structures resulted from gravitational interaction between the building blocks of planets and unidentified planets. TWA 7, which was one of two systems they looked at, has three rings. 'One of the two systems, named TWA 7, has three distinct rings, one of which is especially narrow, and surrounded by two empty areas with almost no matter,' the center said. The image Webb took revealed the potential source. 'Detailed simulations have indeed confirmed the formation of a thin ring and a 'hole' at the exact planet's position, which perfectly corresponds to the observations made with the JWST,' the center noted. With a mass comparable to Saturn, TWA 7 b is easier to detect in the mid-infrared thermal range because it is some 10 times lighter than those previously snapped in images. The recently formed planets in these systems are also still hot, making them brighter than their older counterparts. There are currently more than 5,900 confirmed exoplanets that exist beyond our solar system. Most of them orbit other stars and the majority of those that have been discovered are in our Milky Way galaxy. But, NASA believes that billions exist. Exoplanets help to better understand how planetary systems form including our own. However, they are often drowned out by starlight. Scientists hope to capture images of planets with even less mass in the future using Webb. 'This result marks a new step in the research and direct imaging of increasingly small exoplanets, which are more similar to the Earth than to the gas giants of the Solar System,' the center wrote.
