News Astronomy

Here’s the James Webb telescope’s first direct image of an exoplanet

JWST also got its first direct spectrum of an object orbiting a star in another solar system

wide image of Exoplanet HIP 65426 b with four insets showing how the planet looks in different wavelengths of light (purple, blue, yellow, and red)

Exoplanet HIP 65426 b shines in four different wavelengths in this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. Purple represents 3 micrometers, blue is 4.44 micrometers, yellow is 11.4 micrometers and red is 15.5 micrometers. The shape of the planet doesn’t look like a perfect circle because of the telescope’s optics, in particular its hexagonal mirror.

NASA, ESA, CSA, A Carter/UCSC, the ERS 1386 team, and A. Pagan/STScI

By Lisa Grossman

- More than 2 years ago

This is the first picture of an exoplanet from the James Webb Space Telescope.