Latest news with #34lightyears
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA detects new planet with temperatures that suggest habitable conditions
The James Webb telescope has made another stunning discovery -- this time of a massive planet that could potentially sustain life, according to multiple space agencies. Astronomers have captured "compelling evidence" of a planet with a mass about 100 times the size of Earth orbiting a young, red dwarf star 34 light-years away called TWA 7 or CE Antilae. MORE: Rare exoplanet discovered in outskirts of the Milky Way The planet, named TWA 7b, was detected by the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope ever put into space, according to NASA. An initial analysis suggests the object could be a young, cold planet with a temperature near 120 degrees Fahrenheit, NASA said. Life can grow and reproduce starting at about 5 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 251 degrees Fahrenheit, scientists say. MORE: Could our solar system have 9 planets after all? Astronomers may have confirmed possible existence. An international team of astronomers noticed a faint infrared source in a disk of debris surrounding the star, a distance about 50 times the space between Earth and the Sun, NASA said. They then used the telescope's mid-infrared instrument to suppress the bright glare of the host star to reveal the faint objects nearby, a method called high-contrast imaging that allows astronomers to directly detect planets that would otherwise be lost in the "overwhelming" light. If confirmed, this would be the first time the James Webb telescope captured a direct image that led to the discovery of a planet, rather than gravitational lensing -- a technique based on Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, according to astronomers. The detection would match the expected position of a planet and explain key features of planets seen in the debris disk, according to the space agency. The source of the infrared light is located within three dust rings observed surrounding TWA 7. MORE: HExoplanet discovered in 2020 has the coldest temperatures ever measured, scientists say The debris disk surrounding TWA 7 is one of the youngest debris disks known to date, according to a paper published last week in Nature. "Our observations reveal a strong candidate for a planet shaping the structure of the TWA 7 debris disk, and its position is exactly where we expected to find a planet of this mass," Anne-Marie Lagrange, a researcher at the Observatoire de Paris-PSL and Université Grenoble Alpes in France and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. The discovery is an "exciting step forward in our understanding of planetary systems," said co-author Mathilde Malin, an assistant research associate of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in a statement. The finding highlights the Webb telescope's ability to explore previously unseen low-mass planets around nearby stars, according to NASA.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA detects new planet with temperatures that suggest habitable conditions
The James Webb telescope has made another stunning discovery -- this time of a massive planet that could potentially sustain life, according to multiple space agencies. Astronomers have captured "compelling evidence" of a planet with a mass about 100 times the size of Earth orbiting a young, red dwarf star 34 light-years away called TWA 7 or CE Antilae. MORE: Rare exoplanet discovered in outskirts of the Milky Way The planet, named TWA 7b, was detected by the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope ever put into space, according to NASA. An initial analysis suggests the object could be a young, cold planet with a temperature near 120 degrees Fahrenheit, NASA said. Life can grow and reproduce starting at about 5 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 251 degrees Fahrenheit, scientists say. MORE: Could our solar system have 9 planets after all? Astronomers may have confirmed possible existence. An international team of astronomers noticed a faint infrared source in a disk of debris surrounding the star, a distance about 50 times the space between Earth and the Sun, NASA said. They then used the telescope's mid-infrared instrument to suppress the bright glare of the host star to reveal the faint objects nearby, a method called high-contrast imaging that allows astronomers to directly detect planets that would otherwise be lost in the "overwhelming" light. If confirmed, this would be the first time the James Webb telescope captured a direct image that led to the discovery of a planet, rather than gravitational lensing -- a technique based on Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, according to astronomers. The detection would match the expected position of a planet and explain key features of planets seen in the debris disk, according to the space agency. The source of the infrared light is located within three dust rings observed surrounding TWA 7. MORE: HExoplanet discovered in 2020 has the coldest temperatures ever measured, scientists say The debris disk surrounding TWA 7 is one of the youngest debris disks known to date, according to a paper published last week in Nature. "Our observations reveal a strong candidate for a planet shaping the structure of the TWA 7 debris disk, and its position is exactly where we expected to find a planet of this mass," Anne-Marie Lagrange, a researcher at the Observatoire de Paris-PSL and Université Grenoble Alpes in France and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. The discovery is an "exciting step forward in our understanding of planetary systems," said co-author Mathilde Malin, an assistant research associate of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in a statement. The finding highlights the Webb telescope's ability to explore previously unseen low-mass planets around nearby stars, according to NASA.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The James Webb Space Telescope has photographed its first undiscovered planet
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Photographers often can't get enough light – but by blocking out some light, the largest telescope launched into space has photographed what could be its first previously undiscovered planet. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has photographed what researchers believe is a new exoplanet, dubbed TWA 7 b. While the new exoplanet is estimated to be around the mass of Saturn, the TWA 7 b is believed to be the lightest planet ever seen using the Mid-Infrared Instrument imaging. The exoplanet orbits the star TWA 7, around 34 light-years from Earth. One of the challenges in locating new, distant planets is that the stars they orbit typically give off so much light that the planet's dimmer light is lost in the star's brightness. The James Webb Space Telescope compensates for this using the coronagraph technique. A coronagraph is a technique that requires blocking off light from a star in order to see objects otherwise lost in the star's brightness. By blocking off the star's brightness – the black circular gap marked by the star icon in the photograph above – scientists were able to see evidence of TWA 7 b. The new exoplanet hasn't yet been confirmed – NASA notes that there's a small chance that the object in the photograph is a background galaxy rather than an exoplanet. But as scientists continue to research the find, the evidence points to the shape being the James Webb Telescope's first discovery of a previously unknown planet. The telescope's ability to photograph the mid-infrared has enabled the James Webb to aid scientists in studying distant but known planets for the last three years. Now, the technology inside the telescope has allowed for the discovery of what appears to be an undiscovered planet. The James Webb Telescope – the largest ever to launch into space – is designed to detect light outside what humans can see with the naked eye. The near and mid-infrared capabilities of the telescope are helping scientists explore what NASA describes as otherwise hidden regions of space. Infrared technology is key to photographing distant space objects through clouds of dust, as well as low-energy stars and planets like brown dwarfs and young protostars. The infrared technology inside the James Webb has allowed the TWA 7 b to be detected through the three dust rings that surround that system's star. The exoplanet is positioned in a gap in the dust disks, leading scientists to theorize that the planet could be what's shaping the dust structures. While ongoing work is needed to confirm the object as a planet and record additional observations, the photograph also illustrates Webb's potential to find previously unseen planets. The research was published earlier this week in Nature. Browse the best lenses for astrophotography or find inspiration in these star photography tips.
The National
27-06-2025
- Science
- The National
James Webb Space Telescope's first 'alien world' discovery unlocks new era of planet-hunting
Scientists have unveiled groundbreaking direct images of a planet outside of our own solar system, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. It is the first exoplanet discovered by the telescope, proving it can detect lighter and more elusive worlds orbiting distant stars. The planet, named TWA 7b, is situated near a young star about 34 lightyears away, in the constellation Hydra. It is the lightest exoplanet ever seen through direct imaging, with a mass similar to Saturn and about one-third that of Jupiter, as scientists are now able to study smaller, cooler planets that are more difficult to detect. The findings were published in the Nature science journal on Wednesday. Dr Anne-Marie Lagrange, a researcher with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), led the study by an international team. 'Our observations reveal a strong candidate for a planet shaping the structure of the TWA 7 debris disc, and its position is exactly where we expected to find a planet of this mass,' she said. How the planet was found While thousands of exoplanets have been found over the past three decades, most have been detected through indirect methods. These included measuring the dimming of a star as a planet passes in front of it or by watching for tiny movements in a star caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. Only some have ever been directly imaged, and those have typically been enormous gas giants. TWA 7b was spotted using a powerful coronagraph installed on Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (Miri), a telescope attachment developed the CNRS and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. The coronagraph acted like a solar eclipse, blocking out the light of a star so that the much fainter objects orbiting nearby could be seen. This technique helped astronomers spot a faint source of light hidden inside one of the thin dust rings surrounding the star TWA 7. After ruling out objects such as background galaxies or image glitches, scientists realised the signal was coming from a planet, one that had never been seen before. Computer simulations showed that the planet was placed exactly where there is a strange gap in the star's narrow dust ring, which meant strong evidence that its gravity is shaping the ring's structure. Building on past space telescope discoveries Since the telescope's science operations started in 2022, it has helped scientists make several discoveries. These included helping to confirm the chemical composition of atmospheres of other planets and extreme weather patterns on gas giants. JWST's predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, also made valuable discoveries in the early era of direct imaging. It captured the first visible-light image of an exoplanetary system in 2008, however, it lacked the sensitivity to see planets smaller than Jupiter. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope is now offering more advanced techniques. 'This observatory enables us to capture images of planets with masses similar to those in the solar system, which represents an exciting step forward in our understanding of planetary systems, including our own,' said Mathilde Malin, co-author of the study. What comes next The team behind the discovery thinks Webb could soon be able to spot planets with just 10 per cent the mass of Jupiter, getting close to the size of Neptune and 'super-Earths', planets outside the solar system that are larger than Earth but smaller than icy planets like Neptune and Uranus. TWA 7 b also gives scientists a roadmap for how future space and ground-based telescopes that might detect even smaller, more Earth-like planets.
