James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured its first images of an alien world – and because the telescope is performing 10 times better than expected, we are likely to see many more in future.
Astronomers have taken direct images of just 20 exoplanets, all from Earth-based telescopes. But because our planet's atmosphere blocks out a large number of features in the infrared range, it has been difficult to detect features of these planets in any great detail.
“Being here on Earth really sets a sensitivity floor to what we're able to detect, and to this day, the lowest mass planet we've been able to detect is about two Jupiter masses,” says Sasha Hinkley at the University of Exeter, UK.
Now, Hinkley and his colleagues have used JWST to directly image a so-called super-Jupiter exoplanet, HIP 65426 b, which is around seven Jupiter masses and orbits a star around 400 light years from Earth. The team captured it in a range of infrared wavelengths and at a precision that had previously been impossible.
“What we know from these observations is that JWST is going to shatter that sensitivity floor,” says Hinkley. Future observations should be able to go far below the mass of Jupiter, he says. “It's going to allow us to get down to planets that are analogues of ice giants in our own solar system. These might be things like Saturns, or possibly even Neptunes, if we're lucky.”..........
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...sedgntp&cvid=9896ffabc0e3482883b917ed0cdd5476
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured its first images of an alien world – and because the telescope is performing 10 times better than expected, we are likely to see many more in future.
Astronomers have taken direct images of just 20 exoplanets, all from Earth-based telescopes. But because our planet's atmosphere blocks out a large number of features in the infrared range, it has been difficult to detect features of these planets in any great detail.
“Being here on Earth really sets a sensitivity floor to what we're able to detect, and to this day, the lowest mass planet we've been able to detect is about two Jupiter masses,” says Sasha Hinkley at the University of Exeter, UK.
Now, Hinkley and his colleagues have used JWST to directly image a so-called super-Jupiter exoplanet, HIP 65426 b, which is around seven Jupiter masses and orbits a star around 400 light years from Earth. The team captured it in a range of infrared wavelengths and at a precision that had previously been impossible.
“What we know from these observations is that JWST is going to shatter that sensitivity floor,” says Hinkley. Future observations should be able to go far below the mass of Jupiter, he says. “It's going to allow us to get down to planets that are analogues of ice giants in our own solar system. These might be things like Saturns, or possibly even Neptunes, if we're lucky.”..........
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...sedgntp&cvid=9896ffabc0e3482883b917ed0cdd5476