Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, J. Rameau (University of Montreal), and C. Marois (National Research Council of Canada Herzberg)
This discovery image of a Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet orbiting the nearby star 51 Eridani was taken in near-infrared light in 2014 by the Gemini Planet Imager. The bright central star is hidden behind a mask in the center of the image to enable the detection of the exoplanet, which is 1 million times fainter than 51 Eridani. The exoplanet is on the outskirts of the planetary system 11 billion miles from its star. Webb will probe the planet’s atmosphere at infrared wavelengths astronomers have rarely used to image distant worlds.