Baby’s first exoplanet capture. 🍼 NASAWebb took its first direct image of a planet outside of our solar system, roughly six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter. Peek into future possibilities of studying distant worlds with Webb:
This post highlights images from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.
“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 an international mission led by NASA in collaboration with its partners, ESA and CSA .
Researchers have been analyzing the data from these observations and are preparing a paper they will submit to journals for peer review. But Webb’s first capture of an exoplanet already hints at future possibilities for studying distant worlds. “It was really impressive how well the Webb coronagraphs worked to suppress the light of the host star,” Hinkley said.