James Webb telescope discovers its first planet — a Saturn-size 'shepherd' still glowing red hot from its formation

Image of the disk surrounding the star TWA 7 recorded using ESO’s Very Large Telescope’s SPHERE instrument. The image captured with JWST’s MIRI instrument is overlayed.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured its first direct image of a planet in a remote solar system, and it's lighter than any seen before.

The planet, named TWA 7b, is a gas giant with a size comparable to Saturn's. Orbiting a star just over 6 million years old, the planet is still glowing hot from its formation.