James Webb, the most advanced space telescope to date, broke new ground today. The James Webb Space Telescope has captured an image of a planet outside our solar system for the first time. It turned out that this planet in the photo shared by the European Space Agency (ESA) has a larger mass than Jupiter.
The age of the exoplanet turned out to be 15-20 million years
The James Webb Space Telescope, sent into space in late 2021, took an image of a planet beyond our solar system. According to the information revealed, the name of the planet is ‘HIP 652426 b’. In addition, the age of the planet was determined to be 15-20 million years. Generally speaking, this planet is younger than Earth, which is 4.5 billion years old.
🆕@ESA_Webb has taken its first image of an #exoplanet 🤩
6–8 times the mass of Jupiter and 15–20 million years old – still a baby in planet years!#Webb’s powerful infrared gaze will reveal more than ever before about worlds beyond our Solar System.
👉 https://t.co/vTHK1zPmEp pic.twitter.com/lUgmW6mI4x
— ESA Science (@esascience) September 1, 2022
Sasha Hinkley, an astronomer at the University of Exeter, who led the observation, said it was a historic moment for astronomy. He also added, “James Webb will open the door to a whole new class of planets that have not reached us completely. So by observing them over a wide range of wavelengths, we can study their composition much more deeply.”
Observing different planets is challenging because the star in the star system where the planets are located is bright. But the planet observed today is 100 times further from the Earth than the Sun is. In this way, James Webb can distinguish the planet better.
Previously, astronomers have directly obtained images of as many as 20 exoplanets with ground-based telescopes. But that means tackling the noise introduced by Earth’s atmosphere and limiting observations to narrower visibility. In contrast, images taken in space also include wavelengths that make up most of the light produced in the planet’s atmosphere.
In addition, the European Space Agency stated that the planet is gaseous and does not include any rocks. Therefore, it turned out that the planet was not habitable. In addition, the agency announced that observations are continuing and that a research on the subject is on the way.
So, what do you think of the James Webb Space Telescope images? Don’t forget to share your views with us in the comments!
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