NASA Confirms New Massive Exoplanet with Possible Habitable Conditions

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured compelling evidence of a planet named TWA 7b orbiting the young nearby star TWA 7, located about 34 light years from Earth. TWA 7b is a Saturn-mass planet, approximately 100 times the size of Earth, with temperatures around 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which may support life as some organisms can survive at higher temperatures. The discovery marks the first direct imaging of such a small-mass exoplanet by JWST, achieved using the MIRI instrument and a high-contrast imaging technique that filters out the star's light. This system, only 6.4 million years old, offers valuable insight into planetary formation, and the detection might also represent the first evidence of a Trojan disk, a dust cloud trapped in a planet’s orbit. The observations, led by astronomer Anne-Marie Lagrange, highlight the potential of direct imaging for studying young planets and their environments. This breakthrough is a significant step in our understanding of planetary systems beyond our own.