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JWST reveals its first direct image discovery of an exoplanet

(www.smithsonianmag.com)
342 points divbzero | 4 comments | 27 Jun 25 17:44 UTC | HN request time: 0.417s | source
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ryanisnan ◴[27 Jun 25 21:37 UTC] No.44400477[source]▶
This is super exciting. It seems possible to one day receive higher resolution images of this type of find. Perhaps someone who is more familiar with this subject can opine.

The moment we have our first, direct-observation photo of an earth-like exoplanet will be a defining point in our history.

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1. cryptoz ◴[27 Jun 25 21:47 UTC] No.44400544[source]▶
That will be done with a solar gravitational lens - there's a recent-ish NASA paper about it. Basically you send your probe to > 550 AU in the opposite direction of your target exoplanet, point it at the Sun and you will get a warped high-res photo of the planet around the Sun. You can then algorithmically decode it into a regular photo.

I think the transit time is likely decades and the build time is also a long time as well. But in maybe 40-100 years we could have plentiful HD images of 'nearby' exoplanets. If I'm still around when it happens I will be beyond hyped.

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2. dylan604 ◴[27 Jun 25 22:10 UTC] No.44400737[source]▶
this is one of those where a missed alignment is going to be a huge bummer. 550AU * arcseconds is a long way off looking not at what you wanted. you wouldn't know until you were at minimum distance which is going to take generations to achieve. voyager 1 is only ~166AU and that was >40 years. so if you try to nudge your coarse, how many more generations would it be before it was aligned correctly?
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3. sanxiyn ◴[27 Jun 25 22:53 UTC] No.44401025[source]▶
FYI: Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravity Lens Mission. https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.11871
4. umeshunni ◴[27 Jun 25 22:54 UTC] No.44401036[source]▶
an arcsecond at 550AU is "only" 400,125 km. So, in theory, it's correctable in days.