Webb telescope takes its first direct image of an exoplanet

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https://www.science.org/content/article/webb-telescope-takes-its-first-direct-image-exoplanet

By Daniel Clery, Science Magazine. 

Excerpt: A research team analyzing early data from the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed the instrument’s initial images of a planet beyond our Solar System, a success that closely follows last week’s unveiling of Webb’s first measurements from the atmosphere of a different exoplanet. The newly imaged young gas giant, seven times the mass of Jupiter, is captured still glowing hot after its formation. The planet’s infrared emissions traveled 350 light-years before the photons were gathered by Webb’s gold-plated mirrors. In a paper posted today on the arXiv preprint server, the Webb astronomers exhibit several images of the planet, called HIP 65426 b, at a range of wavelengths (shown in insets, above) that have heretofore been invisible to Earthbound telescopes because of our planet’s infrared-blocking atmosphere. ...the high quality of these first images bodes well for its discovery of new, even smaller exoplanets, down to the size of Saturn or even Neptune—ice giants that have never been directly observed outside our Solar System. Researchers hope Webb’s images will help them understand how and where such planets form in the disks of dust and gas around newborn stars.… 

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