From Newsgroup: alt.astronomy

from https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/james-webb-space-telescope-spots-a-potential-new-exoplanet-just-4-light-years-away-from-earth

James Webb Space Telescope spots a potential new exoplanet just 4
light-years away from Earth
News
By Stefanie Waldek published yesterday
The candidate gas giant orbits Alpha Centauri A, a nearby star much like
our sun.

an image of a red and purple striped planet near two stars
An artist's concept showing what a gas giant orbiting Alpha Centauri A
could look like. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Robert L. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC))
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have found
strong evidence for a new exoplanet rCo one orbiting Alpha Centauri A, the nearest sun-like star to Earth. It's located just four light-years away
from us, in the Alpha Centauri triple-star system.

Using JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the team imaged Alpha
Centauri with a coronagraphic mask to remove the glare from the stars, allowing them to see much fainter objects like planets. That revealed a potential orbiting world some 10,000 times fainter than Alpha Centauri A.

While the planet candidate is in Alpha Centauri A's habitable zone rCo the range of distances from a star where it's possible for liquid water to
exist on a world's surface rCo it is a gas giant and thus wouldn't be able
to support life as we know it. Still, the potential planet is an
exciting discovery.

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For starters, it's sure to generate interest from sci-fi fans rCo after
all, the "Avatar" film series' fictional moon Pandora circles a gas
giant that orbits Alpha Centauri A.

But there's much intrigue within the realm of science, too. At a
distance of just two astronomical units from its host star (twice the
distance between Earth and the sun), the planet candidate, if confirmed,
would be the closest to its host star ever imaged. It would also be the
first planet imaged around a star that matches the sun in both age and temperature.

a bright white orb next to a blocked-out star on a grainy red background

This three-panel image captures NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's observational search for a planet around the nearest sun-like star,
Alpha Centauri A. (Image credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, Aniket Sanghi (Caltech), Chas Beichman (NExScI, NASA/JPL-Caltech), Dimitri Mawet (Caltech)/Image: ProcessingJoseph DePasquale (STScI))
"With this system being so close to us, any exoplanets found would offer
our best opportunity to collect data on planetary systems other than our
own," Charles Beichman, the executive director of the NASA Exoplanet
Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
and a senior scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in a statement.

a bright white orb next to a blocked-out star on a grainy red background

This image shows the Alpha Centauri star system from several different
ground- and space-based observatories: the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS),
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
(Image credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, Aniket Sanghi (Caltech), Chas
Beichman (NExScI, NASA/JPL-Caltech), Dimitri Mawet (Caltech)/Image: ProcessingJoseph DePasquale (STScI))
The Alpha Centauri system hosts two confirmed exoplanets, both of them
around the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. There's still a long road
ahead before the candidate Alpha Centauri A gas giant can join the list.

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Subsequent JWST observations did not reveal additional evidence of the
planet, though computer simulations suggest the planet might just have
been too close to Alpha Centauri A to be imaged.

Our bright neighboring star system, Alpha Centauri, could harbor an
Earth-size planet rCo but new jumps in technology are needed for us to see it.

A telescope photo of Alpha Centauri. (Image credit: ESO/Digitized Sky
Survey 2 Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin)
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rCo A hidden 'super-Earth' exoplanet is dipping in and out of its
habitable zone

rCo The 10 most Earth-like exoplanets

The team hopes that further observations by both JWST and the upcoming
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in May 2027,
might provide the proof required to confirm the planet.

That would certainly give scientists much to study in the years to come.
"[The planet's] very existence in a system of two closely separated
stars would challenge our understanding of how planets form, survive,
and evolve in chaotic environments," said Aniket Sanghi, a Caltech
graduate student who co-led the research with Beichman.

The scientists report the new results in two papers that have been
accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions,
night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment,
let us know at: community@space.com.

Stefanie Waldek
Stefanie Waldek
Contributing writer
Space.com contributing writer Stefanie Waldek is a self-taught space
nerd and aviation geek who is passionate about all things spaceflight
and astronomy. With a background in travel and design journalism, as
well as a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University, she
specializes in the budding space tourism industry and Earth-based astrotourism. In her free time, you can find her watching rocket
launches or looking up at the stars, wondering what is out there. Learn
more about her work at www.stefaniewaldek.com.

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Comment by George Peart.

GP

George Peart
6 hrs ago
If there are potential for life to exist in the Alpha Centuari system,
and it takes 4 light years for light to reach it, why is the system not
been inundated with intelligent information through radio waves from
earth? I 4-6 years we would see if there are any indication of
intelligent communication is received in abundance.

We could transmit radio waves from all countries capable of doing so.
Not necessarily focusing on any exoplanet. But in a broad scope. Then we
stop after say 4 years and began listening at the end of 4 years, with
total refocus.

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Comment by Spacefan25.

Sp

Spacefan25
19 hrs ago
I wonder what is the theoretical minimum distance JWST could detect a
planet from this star? As a record-breaker for closeness, this planet
must be near it. But if there's one closer, it could also be
hotter/brighter to the telescope.

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Comment by Spacefan25.

Sp

Spacefan25
23 hrs ago
It could still have a habitable watery exo-moon. Being two AUs out from
a virtual twin sun to ours, that is probably right on the edge of its habitable zone though. Perhaps it could partly offset the distance with
energy from tidal forces like Io?

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Reply by dav.daddy.

da

dav.daddy
19 hrs ago
Reply to Spacefan25
If memory serves me Alpha Centauri A is the same class as the Sun but
quite a bit larger, and thus brighter making its habitable zone further
out than our own.

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