Page 5 - Spec Tech Vol 1 Issue 04
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NASA's Webb takes its first-ever direct image of
distant world
Astronomers have used NASA's James light so the planet can be seen. Two of Webb’s
Webb Space Telescope to take a direct instruments observed the planet: the
image of a planet outside our solar system. Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), and the
The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). NASA’s Jet
has no rocky surface and could not be Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California
habitable. The image shows how Webb's managed MIRI during its design, construction,
powerful infrared gaze can easily capture and commissioning. Both instruments are
worlds beyond our solar system, pointing equipped with coronagraphs, which are sets of
the way to future observations that will tiny masks that block out starlight, enabling
reveal more information than ever before Webb to take direct images of certain exoplanets
about exoplanets This image shows the like this one, called HIP 65426 b. NASA’s Nancy
exoplanet HIP 65426 b in different bands of Grace Roman Space Telescope, slated to launch
infrared light, as seen from the James later this decade, will use the even more
Webb Space Telescope. The images at advanced Coronagraph Instrument, which is also
bottom look different because of the ways managed by JPL.
the different Webb instruments capture
light. A coronagraph blocks the host star’s
Space Explorer 2022 5
