Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers
have captured the first direct image of a planet outside of our solar system.
Because the exoplanet is a gas giant and lacks a rocky
surface, it is unsuitable to life.
The image, as seen through four different light
filters, demonstrates how Webb's strong infrared vision can easily capture
worlds outside of our solar system, paving the door for upcoming observations
that will provide more data about exoplanets than has ever been available.
HIP 65425 and four images of its planet
"b." The image has a dark backdrop and numerous white and blue stars;
it is not from Webb and is titled "Digitized Sky Survey."
In the upper centre is written "Star HIP
65425." It contains four telescope aberrations, or diffraction spikes, on
the top, bottom, left, and right. Four inset boxes are highlighted by diagonal
lines running from the star to the bottom of the image.
First is Webb's NIRCam view of the exoplanet, from
left to right. It appears as a purple dot with purple bars at 11 and 5. The
bars are artefacts of the telescope, not actual bars. The planet and objects
have been given a purple hue. The image has the applied filter, F300M (3
micrometres). A similar NIRCam picture using the filter F444W is shown next
(4.44 micrometers).
This view has the artefact bars and is coloured
blue. A MIRI perspective in orange follows. There are no bars. Filter type:
F1140C (11.40 micrometers). Lastly, a MIRI view utilising the F1550C filter
(15.50 micrometers). It is a large red dot. On each of the four
representations, the parent star is symbolised by a white star.
“This is a transformative moment, not only for Webb
but also for astronomy generally,” said Sasha Hinkley, associate professor of
physics and astronomy at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, who
led these observations with a large international collaboration.
Webb is a multinational mission run by NASA in
conjunction with its affiliates, the Canadian Space Agency and the European
Space Agency (Canadian Space Agency).
The HIP 65426 b exoplanet in Webb's image has a mass
that ranges from six to twelve times that of Jupiter, and these observations
may assist to further refine that range. In comparison to our 4.5
billion-year-old Earth, it is a young planet, being just roughly 15 to 20
million years old.
The information gathered from these observations has
been analysed by researchers, who are currently writing a report that will be
submitted to journals for peer review. In contrast, future opportunities for
researching far-off planets are already hinted at by Webb's initial exoplanet
capture.
HIP 65426 b is sufficiently far away from its host
star for Webb to be able to distinguish the planet from the star in the image
since it is 100 times further away from its host star than Earth is from the
Sun.
Reference: NASA
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