Astronomers using the James Webb telescope have obtained a possible image of a mysterious planet near Alpha Centauri A —, a Sun-like star in the constellation Alpha Centauri.
This constellation is only 4 light-years away from Earth and provides astronomers with an opportunity to study star systems. JWST detected a possible planet the size of Saturn in August 2024, but two subsequent similar attempts in 2025 were unsuccessful.
According to an astrophysicist from the California Institute of Technology and co-author of the study, Aniket Sanghi, scientists face disappearance of the discovered planet. The researchers suggest, that the mysterious planet may have shifted in its orbit toward the star, which could have made it temporarily invisible to JWST.
“The assumption is based on a strict prediction that the planet will be visible again in 2026 or 2027. These follow-up observations will be key to confirming the existence of this planet”, — explains head of the Department of Extrasolar Planets Research at the Western University of Ontario Stanimir Mechov, who did not participate in the study.
If confirmed, this planet will be the closest to Earth that is potentially a habitable area for life, at a suitable distance from its parent star, and may have liquid water. However, the recently discovered exoplanet, which is the size of Saturn, is probably too large for life as we know it.
This planet will also be the closest to its star that has ever been directly photographed, because it orbits at a distance twice the equivalent distance between the Earth and the Sun. The Alpha Centauri system consists of three stars: the sun-like Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, as well as the fainter red dwarf Proxima Centauri. Astronomers have already confirmed the existence of three planets orbiting Proxima Centauri.
For observations JWST used the instrument medium infrared (MIRI) The search for planets in the Alpha Centauri system required a special sequence of observations. A coronagraphic mask was also used to block the light of Alpha Centauri A and obtain images of fainter planets orbiting nearby.
“Their extra efforts have yielded amazing results. These are incredibly difficult observations, even with the world’s most powerful space telescope, because these stars are very bright, close, and moving rapidly across the sky”, — he says lead co-author of the study and Executive Director of the NASA Institute for Exoplanetary Science at the California Institute of Technology, Charles Beichman.
Source: LivesScience
Spelling error report
The following text will be sent to our editors: