James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Its First Exoplanet

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first new exoplanet, TWA 7b — a young, low-mass planet about 100 times the mass of Earth, making it the lightest planet ever directly imaged beyond the solar system. Space.com reports: TWA 7b was discovered in the debris rings that surround the low-mass star CE Antilae, also known as TWA 7, located around 111 light-years from Earth. CE Antilae is a very young star, estimated to be around just a few million years old. If that seems ancient, consider the sun, a “middle-aged” star, is around 4.6 billion years old.

[…] The disk of CE Antilae is divided into three distinct rings, one of which is narrow and bounded by two empty “lanes” mostly devoid of matter. When imaging this ring, the JWST spotted an infrared-emitting source, which the team of astronomers determined is most likely a young exoplanet. They then used simulations that confirmed the formation of a thin ring and a “hole” exactly where this planet is positioned, corresponding to JWST observations. The research has been published in the journal Nature.