NASA’s Webb Finds New Evidence for Planet Around Closest Solar Twin
Astronomers using the NASA James Webb space telescope have found solid evidence of a giant orbit planet around a star in the stellar system closest to our own sun. Only 4-light years from the earth, the Alpha Centauri Triple Star system has long been a convincing target in the search for worlds beyond our solar system.
Alpha Centauri, located in the sky far from the south, is composed of the Binary Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, both stars in the shape of a sun, and the light Red Dwarf Star Proxima Centauri. Alpha Centauri A is the most brilliant star in the night sky. Although there are three confirmed planets in orbit around Proxima Centauri, the presence of other worlds surrounding Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B was difficult to confirm.
Now, webb observations from its median infrared instrument (MIRI) provide the most solid evidence to date with an Alpha Centauri A orbit giant. The results have been accepted in a series of two articles in astrophysical newspaper letters.
If it is confirmed, the planet would be closest to the earth that orbit in the habitable area of a star -shaped star. However, because the planet’s candidate is a gas giant, scientists say that he would not support life as we know it.
“This system being so close to us, all the exoplanets found would offer our best opportunity to collect data on planetary systems other than ours. However, these are incredibly difficult observations to make, even with the most powerful space telescope in the world, because these stars are so brilliant and quickly move in the Center sky, co-prime author on the new newspapers. “Webb has been designed and optimized to find the galaxies most distant from the universe. The team of operations of the Space Telescope Science Institute had to offer a personalized observation sequence just for this target, and their additional effort has reimbursed spectacularly. ”
Several cycles of observations meticulously planned by webb, a careful analysis of the research team and in -depth computer modeling have helped to determine that the source observed in the image of webb is probably a planet, and not a substantive object (like a galaxy), a leading object (an asteroid passing), or another detector or an artifact of image.
The first observations of the system took place in August 2024, using the corongraphic mask aboard Miri to block the light of Alpha Centauri A. While the additional brightness of the neighboring Star Companion Alpha Centauri B complicated the analysis, the team was able to subtract the light of the two stars to reveal an object more than 10,000 times lower than Alpha Centauri a, separated from the star The distance between the sun and the earth.
Although the initial detection was exciting, the research team needed more data to reach a firm conclusion. However, additional observations of the system in February 2025 and April 2025 (using the director’s discretionary time) revealed any object such as that identified in August 2024.
“We are faced with the case of a missing planet!” To investigate this mystery, we used computer models to simulate millions of potential orbits, incorporating the knowledge acquired when we saw the planet, as well as when we did not do it, “said Caltech’s doctoral student Sanghi in Pasadena, California. Sanghi is a co-first author on the two articles covering the team’s research.
In these simulations, the team took into account both an observation of 2019 of the potential exoplanet candidate by the very large telescope of the Southern European Observatory, the new webb data, and considered orbits which would be stable gravitational in the presence of Alpha Centauri B, which means that the planet did not leave the system.
The researchers say that a non-detection in the second and third cycles of observations with WebB is not surprising.
“We found that in half of the possible simulated orbits, the planet was moving too close to the star and would not have been visible for Webb in February and April 2025,” said Sanghi.
Based on the planet’s brightness in medium infrared observations and orbit simulations, the researchers say that this could be a giant of gas approximately the mass of Saturn in alpha Centauri orbit has in an elliptical path varying between 1 and 2 times the distance between the sun and the earth.
“If it is confirmed, the potential planet seen in the webb image of Alpha Centauri would mark a new step for exoplanet imaging efforts,” said Sanghi. “Of all the planets directly imagined, it would be the closest to its star seen so far. It is also the most similar temperature and age to the giant planets of our solar system and the closest to our house, the earth,” he said. “Its very existence in a system of two closely separate stars would dispute our understanding of the way in which the planets are formed, survive and evolve in chaotic environments.”
If it is confirmed by additional observations, the results of the team could transform the future of exoplanet science.
“This would become an object of touchstone for the science of exoplanet, with multiple opportunities for detailed characterization by Webb and other observatories,” said Beichman.
For example, the Roman Spatial Telescope Nancy Grace Roman of NASA, which should be launched in May 2027 and potentially in the fall of 2026, is equipped with dedicated equipment that will test new technologies to observe binary systems like Alpha Centauri in search of other worlds. The visible light data of Roman would complete the infrared observations of webb, giving unique information on the size and reflectivity of the planet.
The James Webb space telescope is the world’s leading world science observatory. Webb solves mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond the distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To find out more on webb, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/webb
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See / Download the scientific document of C. Beichman et al.
See / Download the scientific document by A. Sanghi et al.
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, Greenbelt, MD.
Hannah Braun – hbraun@scsci.edu
Science Institute of the Space Telescope, Baltimore, MD.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@scsci.edu
Science Institute of the Space Telescope, Baltimore, MD.
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