Latest news with #TWA7
Hindustan Times
2 hours 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.
NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- Science
- NZ Herald
James Webb telescope discovers exoplanet through rare direct images
Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to directly image a new exoplanet, represented by CC#1, within the three-ring debris disk surrounding the star TWA 7. Photo / Anne-Marie Lagrange et al via Nature. The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first exoplanet through rare direct images. 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
Yahoo
10 hours 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.
GMA Network
12 hours ago
- Science
- GMA Network
For first time, Webb telescope discovers an alien planet
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. The empty area around exoplanet TWA 7 B is shown in the R2 ring, CC #1. AM Lagrange et al/JWST/ESO/Handout via REUTERS WASHINGTON — In addition to providing a trove of information about the early universe, the James Webb Space Telescope since its 2021 launch has obtained valuable data on various already-known planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets. Now, for the first time, Webb has discovered an exoplanet not previously known. Webb has directly imaged a young gas giant planet roughly the size of Saturn, our solar system's second-largest planet, orbiting a star smaller than the sun located about 110 light-years from Earth in the constellation Antlia, researchers said. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). A never-before-seen planet! ???? This is Webb's first discovery of a planet using direct imaging. With a mass similar to Saturn, it's also the lightest exoplanet yet seen using this technique! — NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) June 25, 2025 Most of the roughly 5,900 exoplanets discovered since the 1990s have been detected using indirect methods, such as through observation of the slight dimming of a star's light when a planet passes in front of it, called the transit method. Less than 2% of them have been directly imaged, as Webb did with the newly identified planet. While this planet is large when considered in the context of our solar system, it is actually the least massive one ever discovered through direct imaging—10 times less massive than the previous record holder. This speaks to the sensitivity of Webb's instruments. This discovery was achieved using a French-produced coronagraph, a device that blocks out the bright light from a star, installed on Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI. "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," said astronomer Anne-Marie Lagrange of the French research agency CNRS and LIRA/Observatoire de Paris, lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The planet orbits its host star, called TWA 7, at a distance about 52 times greater than Earth's orbital distance from the sun. To put that in perspective, our solar system's outermost planet Neptune orbits about 30 times further from the sun than Earth. The transit method of discovering exoplanets is particularly useful for spotting those orbiting close to their host star rather than much further out like the newly identified one. "Indirect methods provide incredible information for planets close to their stars. Imaging is needed to robustly detect and characterize planets further away, typically 10 times the Earth- to-sun distance," Lagrange said. The birth of a planetary system begins with a large cloud of gas and dust—called a molecular cloud— that collapses under its own gravity to form a central star. Leftover material spinning around the star in what is called a protoplanetary disk forms planets. The star and the planet in this research are practically newborns—about 6 million years old, compared to the age of the sun and our solar system of roughly 4.5 billion years. Because of the angle at which this planetary system is being observed—essentially looking at it from above rather than from the side—the researchers were able to discern the structure of the remaining disk. It has two broad concentric ring-like structures made up of rocky and dusty material and one narrow ring in which the planet is sitting. The researchers do not yet know the composition of the planet's atmosphere, though future Webb observations may provide an answer. They also are not certain whether the planet, being as young as it is, is still gaining mass by accumulating additional material surrounding it. While this planet is the smallest ever directly imaged, it is still much more massive than rocky planets like Earth that might be good candidates in the search for life beyond our solar system. Even with its tremendous capabilities of observing the cosmos in near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, Webb is still not able to directly image Earth-sized exoplanets. "Looking forward, I do hope the projects of direct imaging of Earth-like planets and searches for possible signs of life will become a reality," Lagrange said. — Reuters
Yahoo
12 hours 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
