Pictures of other planets outside our solar system

Can astronomers see a planet outside our Solar System?

For the first time, astronomers have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of a planet outside our solar system. The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and could not be habitable.

Can a planet orbit another star?

Lee esta historia en español aquí. Researchers confirmed an exoplanet, a planet that orbits another star, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope for the first time. Formally classified as LHS 475 b, the planet is almost exactly the same size as our own, clocking in at 99% of Earth’s diameter.

Can astronomers see exoplanets?

Such work complements other ways in which Webb can observe exoplanets, such as analysing the starlight passing through a planet’s atmosphere to see what chemical compounds the atmosphere contains. Astronomers can’t use that technique on HIP 65426 b, because it lies too far away from its star.

Why do the images at the bottom of a planet look different?

The images at bottom look different because of the ways the different Webb instruments capture light. A coronagraph blocks the host star’s light so the planet can be seen. One of the telescope’s instruments used to observe the planet is managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Why is it difficult to see exoplanets?

Taking direct images of exoplanets is challenging because stars are so much brighter than planets. The HIP 65426 b planet is more than 10,000 times fainter than its host star in the near-infrared, and a few thousand times fainter in the mid-infrared. In each filter image, the planet appears as a slightly differently shaped blob of light.

Is a gas giant a habitable exoplanet?

The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and is not habitable. The finding is detailed in NASA’s latest JWST blog entry. Two of Webb’s instruments observed the planet: the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).