Giant exoplanet emerges from the dark when the James Webb Space Telescope turns out the starlight

Live updates

1. 36m ago

   JWST reveals 51 Eridani b in archival data using new glare-removal software

   Astronomers have recovered a direct image of the giant exoplanet 51 Eridani b from two-year-old James Webb Space Telescope observations by applying a new computational technique that models and subtracts stellar glare. The planet, roughly 11 times Jupiter's mass and orbiting a star about 97 light-years away, had been hidden in the raw data because the host star's scattered light overwhelmed it. The method uses a digital twin of JWST's optical system to push contrast below the telescope's nominal stability limit, allowing the planet to emerge without new observations.

   Why it matters

   Direct imaging of exoplanets usually requires blocking starlight with coronagraphs, but residual speckles often hide planets at small angular separations. 51 Eridani b was discovered in 2015 with the Gemini Planet Imager but had not been seen in JWST data until now. The breakthrough demonstrates that software post-processing can salvage planets from archival datasets, effectively increasing the science yield of existing observations and extending JWST's reach to fainter, closer-in companions.

   What is confirmed

   • 51 Eridani b is a gas giant exoplanet with a mass of about 11 Jupiters orbiting a star roughly 97 light-years from Earth.
   • The planet was recovered from two-year-old JWST archival data using a new computational glare-removal method.
   • The technique employs a digital twin of JWST to model and subtract stellar scattered light below the telescope's stability limit.

   Still unconfirmed

   • The new method could be a game-changer for finding planets beyond our Solar System.
   • This approach may enable detection of fainter, closer-in planets in future JWST surveys.

   What to watch next

   • Publication of the peer-reviewed paper describing the algorithm and its performance limits
   • Application of the technique to other JWST archival datasets targeting known or candidate exoplanets
   • Comparison of recovered photometry with earlier Gemini Planet Imager measurements to constrain atmospheric models
   Sources used for this update (11)

   1. Space — Giant exoplanet emerges from the dark when the James Webb Space Telescope turns out the starlight
   2. Nature — Imaging exoplanets below the telescope stability limit
   3. Phys.org — Giant planet emerges from two-year-old JWST data thanks to glare-removal technique
   4. Ars Technica — Software squeezes more data out of Webb Telescope for imaging exoplanets
   5. BBC Sky at Night Magazine — An enormous lost planet has emerged from the darkness. New technique could be a game-changer in the search for planets beyond our Solar System
   6. www.space.com — Giant exoplanet emerges from the dark when the James Webb ...
   7. www.skyatnightmagazine.com — An enormous lost planet has emerged from the darkness. New ...
   8. spaceeyenews.com — James Webb hidden planet: Giant Emerges From Stellar Glare
   9. www.livescience.com — Scientists remove glare from a James Webb Space Telescope ...
   10. article.wn.com — Giant exoplanet emerges from the dark when the James Webb ...
   11. www.everythingspace.online — New software reveals giant exoplanet hidden in James Webb ...
   confidence 92%