For the first time ever, the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a previously unknown exoplanet: TWA 7b.
Often called “alien planets,” exoplanets are worlds that orbit stars outside our solar system. The telescope directly imaged a young gas giant, similar in size to Saturn, orbiting a small star about 110 light-years away in the constellation Antlia (one light-year equals about 5.9 trillion miles, or 9.5 trillion kilometers).
Discoveries like this remind us that the universe is truly a bright and beautiful place. The cosmos is populated with the birth of stars and the swirling dust of nebulae that create a dance across space, and all we can do is watch from a distance as the galaxy moves in motion around us. To do that, humans have built some of the most spectacular astronomical observatories around the world, capable of peering into the vast void of space and capturing images that astound.
The James Webb Space Telescope has been able to look deeply into the cosmos and obtain some of the world's best pictures of space. Curious? Click through this gallery to see what the telescope was able to find while searching the night sky.