The space device proved it could revolutionize exoplanet research.
The James Webb Space Telescope took the first direct image of an alien world. He captured the gas giant HIP 65426 b in the background of a digitized survey of the sky, writes Space.com.
This planet orbits a distant star at a distance of about 385 light years from Earth. It is located outside our solar system.
In the image, the gas giant appears in the image as a small area next to the bright star. Webb photographed the exoplanet with its Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI), each focusing on a different flavor of infrared light.
“This is a transformative moment not only for Webb, but for astronomy in general,” said Sasha Hinckley, an astronomer at the University of Exeter in the UK who led the observations.
It was learned that scientists discovered the planet in 2017 using the Very Large Telescope in Chile. HIP 65426 b was discovered due to a combination of several factors. First, it is very far from its parent star, 100 times the distance from the Sun to Earth (for comparison, Pluto orbits at a distance of only 40 from the Sun to Earth). Second, HIP 65426 b is also massive – 12 times the size of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.
“Taking this image was like searching for treasure in space. At first, all I could see was the light from the star, but with careful image processing, I was able to remove that light and reveal the planet. It’s really amazing “It was amazing how well Webb’s coronagraphs worked to suppress the light of the host star,” said Aarinn Carter, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led the image analysis, in a statement.
By observing the star through four different filters, the scientists obtained images in which the planet is seen as a small glowing blob. The shape of the spot changes from image to image, which is a by-product of the telescope’s optics.
Meanwhile, note that HIP 65426 b is a very young planet, only 15 to 20 million years old (compared to Earth’s 4.5 billion years). Due to its gaseous nature, it must be devoid of life.
Photo: space.com
Image HIP 65426 b
Recall that James Webb first took a picture of the Wolf-Ryet star, which is located at a distance of about 5600 light-years from us.
Images from the James Webb telescope turned into music
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