Webb telescope captures first direct image of exoplanet
2022-09-03 07:40:03Source: Xi’an Daily
The James Webb Space Telescope has captured the first direct image of an exoplanet, NASA said on Sept. 1.
NASA released news that the exoplanet, named HIP 65426 b, is an uninhabitable gas giant. It is between 6 and 12 times the mass of Jupiter and is between 15 and 20 million years old, much younger than Earth.
Astronomers discovered the planet in 2017 using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The Webb Telescope has now captured more details of the planet. These details cannot be captured from the ground due to interference from infrared radiation emitted by Earth’s atmosphere.
The challenge with taking a direct image of HIP 65426 b is that it is much dimmer than the star it orbits, radiating less than 1/10,000th as bright in the near-infrared and less than 1/1000 in the mid-infrared. . Both the Webb Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are equipped with coronagraphs. The device blocks the light from stars, allowing telescopes to image planets.
Webb’s predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, also took direct images of exoplanets. Still, the Webb telescope’s first direct image of an exoplanet is exciting, and it feels like digging for a treasure in space, said Alin Carter, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led image analysis of HIP 65426 b.
Carter said the Webb telescope will capture more images of exoplanets, advancing astronomers’ overall understanding of the physics, chemistry and formation of exoplanets.
“We might even discover planets we didn’t know about before.”
(Ou Sa) (Xinhua News Agency special feature)