For the first time since its launch in 2021, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has achieved a groundbreaking milestone discovering an exoplanet not previously known to astronomers. This marks the first direct detection of a new world beyond our solar system using Webb, underscoring the telescope’s remarkable capability to study the universe in unprecedented detail.
The newly discovered exoplanet is a young gas giant, about the size of Saturn, located approximately 110 light-years away in the constellation Antlia. Named TWA 7 b, it orbits a star known as TWA 7, which is much smaller than our sun. The planet resides a staggering 52 times farther from its star than Earth is from the sun far beyond the reach of most traditional detection methods.
Unlike the majority of the 5,900 known exoplanets, which have been detected using indirect methods like the transit technique, TWA 7 b was directly imaged using Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). A key component in this success was a coronagraph, developed in France, which blocked out the bright glare of the host star, allowing the faint planet to be observed.
“This is the least massive planet ever directly imaged ten times less massive than the previous record holder,” said lead researcher Anne-Marie Lagrange of the French research agency CNRS. “Webb opens a new observational window, helping us study exoplanets at greater distances from their stars.”
The TWA 7 system is just six million years old mere infancy compared to our 4.5-billion-year-old solar system. The system’s protoplanetary disk, viewed from above, reveals two broad dust rings and a narrow ring in which the planet sits, offering a unique glimpse into early planetary formation.
While TWA 7 b is too massive and distant to host life as we know it, the discovery highlights Webb’s potential. Future missions could build on this breakthrough to one day directly image Earth-sized planets and perhaps even detect signs of life.
“I hope direct imaging of Earth-like planets becomes reality,” Lagrange added, capturing the hope and ambition driving this new era of exploration.
