The James Webb Space Telescope took his first image of an exoplanetreported the United States space agency (NASA).
The planet, located outside the solar system and named HIP 65426 b, it is a gas giant without a rocky surface that could not be habitable.
“We are facing a turning point, not only for Webb but also for astronomy in generalsaid University of Exeter astronomy professor Sasha Hinkley, who led the observing team.
Webb was released in December 2021 and since then he only receives praise from astronomers for his performance.
It is the most powerful space telescope ever built and its images have thrilled observers in recent months as it orbits the Sun 1.6 million kilometers from Earth.
webb account with telescopic accessories that block starlightsuch as infrared gaze and coronagraphs, which allow you to take direct images of exoplanets.
“It was really impressive how well Webb’s coronagraphs worked to suppress the light from the host star,” Hinkley said in a NASA statement on Thursday.
HIP 65426 b is between six and 12 times the mass of Jupiter and is young and young, being between 15 and 20 million years old, especially compared to the Earth, which is 4.5 billion years old.
The telescope, which released its first images in July, has also revealed dazzling new details of the so-called Ghost Galaxy and the planet Jupiter.
Before, the Hubble Space Telescope had captured direct images of exoplanets, but with much less detail.
“I think the most exciting thing is that we just startedsaid Aarynn Carter of the University of California. “We can even discover previously unknown planets.”
The engineering project that includes the Webb telescope had an estimated cost of 10,000 million dollars and is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. It is expected to work for approximately 20 years.