Latest news with #CEAntilae
02-07-2025
- Science
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. 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. 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. 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.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its 1st exoplanet and snapped its picture (image)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. After three years of helping astronomers investigate known planets beyond the solar system, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered its first new planet. The extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," which has been designated TWA 7b, also happens to have the lowest mass of any planet that has been directly imaged beyond the solar system. With an estimated mass of around 100 times that of Earth or 0.3 times the mass of Jupiter, TWA 7b is ten times lighter than any exoplanet previously directly imaged. TWA 7b was discovered in the debris rings that surround the low-mass star CE Antilae, also known as TWA 7, located around 111 light-years from Earth. CE Antilae is a very young star, estimated to be around just a few million years old. If that seems ancient, consider the sun, a "middle-aged" star, is around 4.6 billion years old. CE Antilae, discovered in 1999, has long been a system of great interest to astronomers because it is seen "pole-on" from Earth. That means the disk of debris or "protoplanetary disk" that surrounds CE Antliae is seen 'from above' (or 'below'), revealing its full extent. This has allowed astronomers to see structures in this disk that appear to have been created by the gravity of then-unseen planets and planetesimals, the "seeds" which gather mass to grow into full planets. The disk of CE Antilae is divided into three distinct rings, one of which is narrow and bounded by two empty "lanes" mostly devoid of matter. When imaging this ring, the JWST spotted an infrared-emitting source, which the team of astronomers determined is most likely a young exoplanet. They then used simulations that confirmed the formation of a thin ring and a "hole" exactly where this planet is positioned, corresponding to JWST observations. Related Stories: —The deadly atmosphere on Venus could help us find habitable worlds. Here's how. —Could nearby stars have habitable exoplanets? NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory hopes to find out —What really makes a planet habitable? Our assumptions may be wrong The JWST is the ideal instrument to detect young low-mass planets like TWA 7b, which emit infrared radiation, the type of light the $10 billion space telescope is most sensitive to. Directly imaging these planets is difficult because they are drowned out by light from their parent stars. The JWST is equipped with a coronagraph that blocks out the light from central stars, allowing the faint infrared emissions of orbiting exoplanets to be detected by its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). That means, though this is the lowest mass planet ever imaged and the first exoplanet discovered by the JWST, it's a safe bet that the powerful space telescope will discover many more planets as it images even lighter worlds. The team's research was published in the journal Nature.
