07/13/2025
🪐 "Webb Telescope Spots a Saturn-Like Planet Around Nearby Star TWA 7!" 🪐
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may have captured its first-ever direct image of a planet outside our solar system ! 🌟
🔭 What Did Webb Find?
A faint infrared source was spotted in the debris disk around TWA 7, a young red dwarf star just 34 light-years away.
The object, named TWA 7 b , lies about 50 times Earth’s distance from the Sun and has a mass similar to Saturn (~100 Earth masses).
Its position matches a gap in the star’s dusty disk, suggesting it’s shaping the disk’s structure—a first-of-its-kind discovery!
📸 How Did They Do It?
Using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and a technique called high-contrast imaging, astronomers blocked out the star’s bright glare to reveal faint nearby objects. Advanced processing confirmed this isn’t a random background star or galaxy—it’s likely a young, cold planet orbiting TWA 7!
💡 Why It Matters:
This could be the lightest exoplanet ever directly imaged , opening new doors to studying planets like those in our solar system.
It hints at a “trojan disk,” where dust is trapped in the planet’s orbit—an exciting clue to how planetary systems evolve.
🌟 Fun Fact:
TWA 7 is only 6.4 million years old (a baby in star terms!) and part of the TW Hydrae association, making it a perfect target for Webb’s sharp mid-infrared vision.
📸 Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Anne-Marie Lagrange (CNRS, UGA), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)
📚 Disclaimer: This image and text are provided by NASA for educational purposes.
🔗 Learn more about this groundbreaking discovery in the comments below!