NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the first direct image of an exoplanet. The team used the Mid-Infrared Instrument to locate a planet-like object, TWA 7 b, with a mass similar to Saturn in its orbit around a nearby star. If confirmed, this marks the first time Webb has discovered a planet through a direct image and the lightest planet ever seen outside our solar system.
Using high-contrast imaging techniques, the researchers suppressed the bright glare of the host star to reveal a faint infrared source near TWA 7. After processing the data, they ruled out the possibility of it being in our solar system or a background galaxy, concluding that the evidence points to the object being a previously undiscovered planet.
The newly discovered planet is located within one of the three dust rings surrounding its star and has characteristics consistent with theoretical predictions for a young, cold, Saturn-mass planet. The discovery provides an exciting step forward in understanding planetary systems, including our own, as it allows scientists to capture images of planets with masses similar to those in our solar system.
The James Webb Space Telescope is uniquely able to block out the starlight to see faint nearby objects, making this observation a significant breakthrough in exoplanet research.
Source: https://petapixel.com/2025/06/27/webb-captures-its-first-direct-image-of-an-exoplanet