James Webb S Historic Images Show Exoplanet In Unprecedented Detail James Webb Space Telescope

The observations, which astronomers said marked a “historic moment for astronomy,” are the first direct images of a planet beyond our solar system from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (8.65 billion £) of NASA. They are also the first images of an exoplanet using infrared light, which gives a much more accurate indication of a planet’s mass and temperature and will allow astronomers to detect the movement of clouds drifting across the planet’s sky. “This really is a historic moment for astronomy,” said Professor Sasha Hinkley, an astronomer based at the University of Exeter, who co-led the observations. “James Webb is going to open the door to a whole new class of planets that have been completely inaccessible to us, and by observing them at a wide range of wavelengths we can study their compositions in a much more in-depth way. “We will be able to detect the presence of weather.” Direct imaging of exoplanets is a huge technical challenge because the host star is much brighter. The focus of the latest observations, HIP 65426 b, is a gas giant about five to ten times the mass of Jupiter located 385 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centauri. It is about 100 times farther from its host star than Earth is from the sun, making it easier to spot. However, it is still over 10,000 times fainter than its host star – the equivalent of trying to spot a firefly next to a large lighthouse from over 50 miles away. The most recent observations put the planet’s atmospheric temperature at about 1,300 C (2,370 F) and suggest that its atmosphere contains red clouds of silica dust. “It would be a terrible place to live,” Hinckley said. “You’d be roasted alive if you could float in the atmosphere.” Astronomers have previously taken direct images of about 20 exoplanets, including HIP 65426 b, using ground-based telescopes. But this meant dealing with the noise introduced by the Earth’s atmosphere and limiting the observations to a narrow range of visible wavelengths. In contrast, the latest images, taken from the cold, airless environment of space, cover a wide range of wavelengths, including infrared, which accounts for most of the light produced in the planet’s atmosphere. “The best wavelength for observing a planet is the one at which it produces the most intrinsic light, because this is directly related to the planet’s temperature,” said Dr Beth Biller, researcher and astronomer at the University of Edinburgh. . HIP 65426 b is only 10-20 million years old, much younger than Earth, which is 4.5 billion years old, and the latest observations give new insights into what Jupiter and Saturn may have looked like in their infancy. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Dr Vivien Parmentier, associate professor of physics at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the latest work, said: “Opening a new window on the universe always brings surprises. Planets form large and contract over time, and this small planet appears to have shrunk faster than we expected. This gives us amazing insights into how planets form and how our own solar system formed.” In the future, James Webb is expected to make detailed observations of more distant Earth-like planets, including those with potentially habitable conditions. The findings are published in a preprint published on the Arxiv website.

title: “James Webb S Historic Images Show Exoplanet In Unprecedented Detail James Webb Space Telescope Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-18” author: “Maria Mejia”

The observations, which astronomers said marked a “historic moment for astronomy,” are the first direct images of a planet beyond our solar system from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (8.65 billion £) of NASA. They are also the first images of an exoplanet using infrared light, which gives a much more accurate indication of a planet’s mass and temperature and will allow astronomers to detect the movement of clouds drifting across the planet’s sky. “This really is a historic moment for astronomy,” said Professor Sasha Hinkley, an astronomer based at the University of Exeter, who co-led the observations. “James Webb is going to open the door to a whole new class of planets that have been completely inaccessible to us, and by observing them at a wide range of wavelengths we can study their compositions in a much more in-depth way. “We will be able to detect the presence of weather.” Direct imaging of exoplanets is a huge technical challenge because the host star is much brighter. The focus of the latest observations, HIP 65426 b, is a gas giant about five to ten times the mass of Jupiter located 385 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centauri. It is about 100 times farther from its host star than Earth is from the sun, making it easier to spot. However, it is still over 10,000 times fainter than its host star – the equivalent of trying to spot a firefly next to a large lighthouse from over 50 miles away. The most recent observations put the planet’s atmospheric temperature at about 1,300 C (2,370 F) and suggest that its atmosphere contains red clouds of silica dust. “It would be a terrible place to live,” Hinckley said. “You’d be roasted alive if you could float in the atmosphere.” Astronomers have previously taken direct images of about 20 exoplanets, including HIP 65426 b, using ground-based telescopes. But this meant dealing with the noise introduced by the Earth’s atmosphere and limiting the observations to a narrow range of visible wavelengths. In contrast, the latest images, taken from the cold, airless environment of space, cover a wide range of wavelengths, including infrared, which accounts for most of the light produced in the planet’s atmosphere. “The best wavelength for observing a planet is the one at which it produces the most intrinsic light, because this is directly related to the planet’s temperature,” said Dr Beth Biller, researcher and astronomer at the University of Edinburgh. . HIP 65426 b is only 10-20 million years old, much younger than Earth, which is 4.5 billion years old, and the latest observations give new insights into what Jupiter and Saturn may have looked like in their infancy. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Dr Vivien Parmentier, associate professor of physics at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the latest work, said: “Opening a new window on the universe always brings surprises. Planets form large and contract over time, and this small planet appears to have shrunk faster than we expected. This gives us amazing insights into how planets form and how our own solar system formed.” In the future, James Webb is expected to make detailed observations of more distant Earth-like planets, including those with potentially habitable conditions. The findings are published in a preprint published on the Arxiv website.