James Webb Telescope Discovers New Exoplanet TWA 7 b in First Direct Image

Updated on: June 26, 2025 | By: Jameswebb Discovery Editorial Team

James Webb Telescope Captures First Direct Image of a New Exoplanet Orbiting TWA 7

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has achieved a historic milestone by capturing the first direct image of a previously unknown exoplanet, dubbed TWA 7 b, orbiting the young red dwarf star TWA 7, located just 34 light-years away in the constellation Antlia. This Saturn-mass planet, the lightest ever imaged using direct techniques, marks a groundbreaking discovery in the study of planetary systems. Announced on June 25, 2025, and published in the journal Nature, this finding reveals a young, cold world sculpting a debris disk, offering new insights into planet formation and the dynamic evolution of young stellar systems. This article explores the significance of TWA 7 b, the technology behind its discovery, and its implications for understanding our cosmic neighborhood.

A Historic First for JWST

Since its launch on December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope has revolutionized astronomy with its infrared vision, peering into the early universe and studying distant exoplanets. The discovery of TWA 7 b, announced on June 25, 2025, marks the telescope’s first direct imaging of a new exoplanet—a feat that sets a new benchmark in planetary science. Unlike the nearly 6,000 exoplanets discovered since 1992, most of which were detected indirectly through methods like the transit technique, TWA 7 b was directly imaged, a challenging task due to the overwhelming brightness of its host star.

“This observatory enables us to capture images of planets with masses similar to those in our solar system, which represents an exciting step forward in our understanding of planetary systems, including our own,” said Mathilde Malin of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute, co-author of the study published in Nature.

TWA 7 b: A Young, Cold Gas Giant

TWA 7, also known as CE Antliae, is a red dwarf star just 6.4 million years old, located in the TW Hydrae association, a nearby stellar nursery. Its youth and proximity make it an ideal target for studying planet formation. The newly discovered TWA 7 b is a gas giant with a mass approximately one-third that of Jupiter, or roughly equivalent to Saturn (about 100 Earth masses). Orbiting at a distance 50 times greater than Earth’s distance from the Sun, TWA 7 b takes several hundred years to complete one orbit, placing it in a region far from its star, unlike the close-in planets typically detected by transit methods.

The planet’s surface temperature, estimated at 120°F (47°C), makes it one of the coldest exoplanets ever directly imaged, a testament to JWST’s sensitivity to faint infrared emissions. Its location within a gap in one of three dust rings surrounding TWA 7 suggests it is actively shaping the debris disk, carving out lanes through gravitational interactions. “Our observations reveal a strong candidate for a planet shaping the structure of the TWA 7 debris disk, and its position is exactly where we expected to find a planet of this mass,” said lead author Anne-Marie Lagrange, a CNRS researcher at the Observatoire de Paris-PSL and Université Grenoble Alpes.

The Power of Direct Imaging

Directly imaging an exoplanet is a monumental challenge. Planets are billions of times fainter than their host stars and appear close to them in the sky, often lost in stellar glare. JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), equipped with a coronagraph, overcomes this by blocking the star’s light, allowing faint objects like TWA 7 b to emerge. The coronagraph creates an artificial eclipse, suppressing the star’s brightness to reveal the planet’s infrared glow.

The image of TWA 7 b combines data from JWST’s MIRI, shown in orange, with ground-based observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) SPHERE instrument, shown in blue. The blue disk highlights the debris surrounding TWA 7, while the bright orange spot at the 2 o’clock position is TWA 7 b. A fainter orange spot in the lower left is an unrelated background star. Advanced image processing further subtracted residual starlight, confirming the planet’s presence. While there’s a small chance the object could be a background galaxy, its brightness, color, and position within the disk strongly support its planetary nature.

Sculpting a Debris Disk

Debris disks, composed of dust and rocky material, are common around young stars like TWA 7. These disks often feature rings and gaps, thought to be sculpted by planets, but direct evidence of such planets has been elusive. TWA 7’s disk, seen nearly face-on from Earth, is divided into three distinct rings, one of which has a narrow gap where TWA 7 b resides. This alignment suggests the planet is a “shepherd,” gravitationally clearing material to form the observed structure.

This discovery could mark the first direct observation of a planet shaping a debris disk, a significant step in understanding planet-disk interactions. It also hints at the possibility of a “trojan disk”—a collection of dust trapped in the planet’s orbit, a phenomenon not yet directly observed. The findings align with theoretical models predicting that a Saturn-mass planet would create such features, providing a real-world example of planetary system formation in action.

The Significance of TWA 7 b

TWA 7 b’s discovery is a game-changer for several reasons:

• Lightest Planet Imaged: At roughly one Saturn mass, TWA 7 b is ten times lighter than previously imaged exoplanets, pushing the boundaries of direct imaging toward smaller, Earth-like worlds.

• Youthful System: At 6.4 million years old, TWA 7 offers a snapshot of a planetary system in its infancy, shedding light on the early stages of planet formation.

• Disk Dynamics: The planet’s role in shaping the debris disk provides direct evidence of how planets influence their environments, a key process in the formation of planetary systems like our own.

• Proximity: At just 34 light-years away, TWA 7 is one of the closest systems studied, making it an ideal target for future observations.

“This result marks a new step in the research and direct imaging of increasingly small exoplanets, which are more similar to the Earth than to the gas giants of the Solar System,” noted the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

The Technology Behind the Discovery

JWST’s unparalleled infrared capabilities made this discovery possible. Positioned at the second Lagrange point (L2), 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, the telescope’s 6.5-meter gold-coated mirror and sunshield maintain a stable, cold environment for observing faint infrared signals. The MIRI instrument, used in this observation, is optimized for mid-infrared wavelengths, ideal for detecting the thermal emissions of cold objects like TWA 7 b.

The coronagraph’s high-contrast imaging technique, combined with advanced image processing, was critical in isolating the planet’s signal. The observation, part of Webb’s program 3662, also incorporated data from the VLT’s SPHERE instrument, which provided a detailed view of the debris disk’s structure. This synergy between space- and ground-based telescopes highlights the power of collaborative astronomy.

Implications for Planetary Science

The discovery of TWA 7 b opens new avenues for studying planet formation. Debris disks like TWA 7’s are remnants of the planet-forming process, where gas and dust coalesce into planets and smaller bodies. The presence of a planet within a disk gap suggests active dynamical processes, where gravitational interactions shape the disk’s structure. This observation supports models of planet formation, where massive planets clear material as they orbit, creating visible rings and gaps.

The potential for a trojan disk—dust trapped in the planet’s orbit—adds intrigue. Such features, if confirmed, could reveal how dust and debris co-evolve with planets, offering clues about the formation of moons or smaller bodies in young systems. The discovery also informs our understanding of our solar system’s history, as similar processes likely shaped the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn billions of years ago.

Future Observations and Research

The TWA 7 b discovery is a starting point for further exploration. Ongoing and future JWST observations aim to:

• Confirm Planetary Status: Additional data will rule out the slim possibility of a background galaxy and solidify TWA 7 b’s identity as a planet.

• Characterize the Planet: Spectroscopic analysis could reveal the planet’s atmospheric composition, temperature, and surface properties.

• Study Disk Interactions: Detailed imaging may uncover more about the debris disk’s structure and the potential presence of a trojan disk.

• Explore the System: Additional planets or planetesimals in the TWA 7 system could be detected, providing a fuller picture of its architecture.

These efforts will leverage JWST’s full suite of instruments, including the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), to probe the system in greater detail. Ground-based observatories like the VLT and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) could complement these studies by examining the disk’s gas and dust content.

JWST’s Role in Exoplanet Exploration

The James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is the world’s premier space observatory. Since its first science images in July 2022, JWST has delivered groundbreaking discoveries, from the earliest galaxies to detailed studies of exoplanet atmospheres. Its ability to directly image low-mass planets like TWA 7 b demonstrates its potential to explore worlds previously beyond reach.

Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits Earth, JWST resides at L2, shielded from solar and terrestrial radiation, enabling its exquisite sensitivity. Its coronagraphs and infrared instruments make it uniquely suited for detecting faint, cold objects, paving the way for future discoveries of even smaller exoplanets, potentially Earth-like in size and composition.

Broader Implications for the Search for Life

While TWA 7 b, a gas giant, is not a candidate for habitability, its discovery brings us closer to imaging smaller, terrestrial exoplanets that could support life. By refining direct imaging techniques, JWST is laying the groundwork for future missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which aim to detect biosignatures on Earth-like worlds. Understanding the formation of planetary systems like TWA 7’s also helps identify stars likely to host stable, habitable planets.

Engaging the Public with Cosmic Wonders

The image of TWA 7 b, a glowing orange dot against a blue debris disk, captures the imagination, showcasing the beauty and mystery of the cosmos. NASA’s outreach efforts, including resources like the “Related for Kids” section, make this discovery accessible to all ages, inspiring the next generation of scientists. Public engagement events, such as those at the American Astronomical Society, further share the excitement of JWST’s findings, fostering a deeper appreciation for space exploration.

For more on TWA 7 b and JWST’s mission, visit NASA’s official Webb page. The discovery of this young planet invites us to ponder the dynamic processes shaping our universe and our place within it.