The James Webb Space Telescope has released its very first exoplanet image – here's what we can learn from it

[Admin]

The new images reveal JWST will be a fantastic tool for astronomers aiming to improve their knowledge of exoplanets.

The James Webb Space Telescope has released its very first exoplanet image – here's what we can learn from it : Read more

 

[Helio]

This is the first exoplanet imaged by the JWST. The paper notes that the scope’s performance exceeds expectations by 10x, which is great but a little surprising.

Direct imaging of Earth-like planets seems unlikely, though this shouldn’t prevent useful exoplanet spectroscopy, I suspect.

 

[murgatroyd]

The big breakthrough, I expect, will come with detection of chlorophyll in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Don't know if JWST is capable enough, but a successor telescope should be.

 

[billslugg]

This article from the UK says JWST does not have very good resolution in its spectrometer. They claim their upcoming Extremely Large Telescope will offer much finer resolution and superior photon collection. They claim to be able to detect the same gasses on alien planets that they are looking through in Earth's atmospere because on the alien planets, due to their spin, the wavelengths are shifted away from the Earth's wavelengths.
It says the generally accepted wavelength of choice when viewed from space is the 9.6 micron feature of ozone is the best to target.
Perhaps some of the chloroflorocarbons would be better?

High-dispersion spectroscopy of extrasolar planets: from CO in hot Jupiters to O2 in exo-Earths | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (royalsocietypublishing.org)