James Webb Space Telescope Discovers First Exoplanet

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first exoplanet, 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, its deep gaze has mostly been used to probe known exoplanets to find out key information such as atmospheric composition rather than tracking down new worlds. The discovery of exoplanet TWA 7b represents a first for the telescope, according to France’s CNRS research centre.

Most exoplanets found so far have been identified from the light they blot out when passing in front of their star, rather than from direct images. Webb has spent time observing planets that have never been directly imaged, making capturing direct images of faraway planets challenging due to their faintness and the brightness of the star they orbit. However, Webb uses a coronagraph to mask the star, allowing its infrared vision to spot the planet.

Webb detected a bright object inside a ring around the star TWA 7, which is relatively nearby in the universe. The planet is estimated to have a mass similar to Saturn, making it at least 10 times lighter than any other directly imaged exoplanet. Webb's ability to detect exoplanets via direct images has increased by a factor of 10, with the ultimate goal being to find habitable worlds outside the Solar System.

In the future, astronomers hope to discover even smaller planets similar to Earth with more powerful telescopes such as the Extremely Large Telescope scheduled to come online in Chile in 2028.

According to the source: Dawn.