The exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system, is a gas giant about six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter. The planet, called HIP 65426 b, is 15 to 20 million years old, just a baby planet compared to cEarth, which is 4.5 billion years old.
It is about 385 light years from Earth.
The planet can be seen in four different bands of infrared light as taken by Webb’s various instruments. Webb sees the universe in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, making it the perfect space observatory to reveal details about distant worlds.
“This is a transformative moment, not only for Webb, but for astronomy in general,” Sasha Hinkley, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, said in a statement.
Hinkley led the observations as part of an international collaboration.
The exoplanet was first discovered in 2017 by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope and its SPHERE instrument, located in Chile. The instrument then took images of the planet through short infrared wavelengths, but Webb’s ability to see longer infrared wavelengths may illuminate new details.
Scientists are analyzing Webb’s data from HIP 65426 bi and an upcoming study will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals.
The exoplanet is about 100 times farther from its host star than Earth is from the sun, which allowed Webb and his instruments to separate the planet from its star. Some of Webb’s instruments are armed with coronagraphs, or masks that can block starlight, allowing the telescope to capture direct images of exoplanets.
Stars are much brighter than planets, and in this case HIP 65426 b is more than 10,000 times fainter than its host star in near-infrared light.
“Getting this image was like a space treasure hunt,” said Aarynn Carter, lead image analysis and postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in a statement. “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 discover the planet.”
While the Hubble Space Telescope was the first to capture direct images of exoplanets, Webb’s infrared exploration of exoplanets is just beginning. The telescope has already shared the first spectrum of an exoplanet detecting a signature of water in its atmosphere and found the first clear evidence of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.
And the space observatory only began making scientific observations this summer.
“I think the most exciting thing is that we’re just getting started,” Carter said. “There are many more images of exoplanets to come that will shape our overall understanding of their physics, chemistry and formation. We may even discover previously unknown planets as well.”