LOS ANGELES: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken its first-ever direct image of a planet outside the solar system, the agency said on Thursday.
The exoplanet in Webb’s image, called HIP 65426 b, is a gas giant, about six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter, according to NASA.
It is about 15 to 20 million years old, compared to the 4.5-billion-year-old Earth, according to NASA.
The image, as seen through four different light filters, shows how Webb’s powerful infrared gaze can easily capture worlds beyond the solar system, pointing the way to future observations that will reveal more information than ever before about exoplanets, said NASA.
Webb is the world’s largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope ever built. It is an international program led by NASA with its partners, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
