Webb telescope takes its first direct image of an exoplanet

NASA's newest telescope has captured the first image of a planet outside our solar system, also known as an exoplanet and this one is named HIP 65426 b. It's what's known as a gas giant, and has 6-to-12 times the mass of Jupiter.

The planet is also an interstellar baby at only 15-to-20 million years old. Earth has been around for four- and a half billion years.

The James Webb Space Telescope captured the four images of the young gas giant still glowing hot after its formation. The planet’s infrared emissions traveled 350 light-years before the photons were gathered by Webb’s gold-plated mirrors.  The images captured represent how the planet appears on in four different bands of infrared light.

Scientists have known about the exoplanet since 2017. The new observation is providing details like a water signature in its atmosphere and evidence of carbon dioxide.

The Hubble Telescope was the first device to capture direct images of exoplanets.