Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In addition to providing information about the early universe, the James Webb Space Telescope has obtained valuable data from a wide range of known planets, called exoplanets, beyond our solar systems since its release in 2021. Now, Weber has discovered an exoplanet that he had not known before.
Weber directly imaged a young gas giant planet, about the size of Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system, and the spinning star rotates more than the small sign of the sun about 110 light-years away from Earth, the researchers said. Light years are 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion kilometers) of light within one year.
Most of the approximately 5,900 exoplanets discovered since the 1990s were detected using indirect methods, for example, when a planet passes in front of it, the slight dimming of the star’s light by observing the slightest, called the Transit method. Like Webb, less than 2% of people are directly imaged.
Although considering the planet in the context of the solar system is large, it is actually the smallest huge amount found through direct imaging – 10 times less than previous record holders. This illustrates the sensitivity of Weber’s instruments.
The discovery was made using a French-made corona that could block bright lights from the stars, mounted on Weber’s mid-infrared instrument or Miri.
“Weber has opened a new window for observing unvisited phylogenetic communities so far – from mass and distances to planets to stars. It is important to explore the diversity of systems within range and understand how they form and develop.
The planet orbits its host star, called TWA 7, about 52 times the distance from the orbit of the Sun. From a perspective, Neptune in our solar system orbits 30 times further away than the sun. Transit methods for discovering exoplanets are particularly useful for methods of departing orbits from the orbit of the host star rather than rotating like the newly identified one.
“Indirect methods provide incredible information for planets close to stars. Imaging is needed to robustly detect and characterize planets further away, usually 10 times the distance from Earth to the positive,” Lagrange said.
The birth of a planetary system began with a large cloud of gas and dust (called molecular clouds) that collapsed under its own gravity to form a central star. The remaining material rotates around the stars, where the so-called protozoa disk forms planets.
The stars and Earth in this study are actually newborns – about 6 million years compared to the age of the sun and about 4.5 billion years of our solar system.
Because of the angle of the observation of this planetary system – essentially from the above rather than from the side – the researchers were able to distinguish the structure of the remaining disks. It has two broad concentric ring-like structures, consisting of rocky and dusty materials and a narrow ring.
Although future Weber observations may provide answers, researchers are not aware of the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. They are not sure if the Earth is young, and they also increase the mass by accumulating other materials around them.
While the planet is the smallest imaging ever, it is still much larger than a rocky planet like Earth, which may be a good candidate for finding life outside the solar system. Even with the tremendous ability to observe the universe in near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, Weber still cannot directly image exoplanets the size of Earth.
“Looking forward, I do want projects that directly image planets similar to Earth and look for possible signs of life that will become a reality,” Lagrang said.
(Reported by Will Dunham, edited by Rosalba O’Brien)
