Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have captured direct images of four planets in a star system 130 light years from Earth. The planets, all young gas giants, are believed to be rich in carbon dioxide, a promising sign that they formed in a similar way to Jupiter and Saturn.
The discovery was made possible by the telescope’s coronagraph instrument, designed to block out the light of stars while searching for exoplanets. Lead author William Balmer said that spotting strong carbon dioxide features allows astronomers to show there is a sizable fraction of heavier elements like carbon, oxygen, and iron in these planets’ atmospheres.
The findings suggest that the giant exoplanets in the HR 8799 system likely formed using the “core accretion” model, where heavy cores pull in lighter elements. The discovery provides valuable clues on gas giant formation throughout the cosmos, but it’s too early to declare this as the prevailing way gas giants form.
Co-author Laurent Pueyo added that there are other lines of evidence hinting at these planets forming using a similar approach. The team plans to conduct more observations with the James Webb Telescope to answer how common this method is for directly imaging exoplanets.
Source: https://futurism.com/james-webb-planets-star-system