Webb’s latest discovery has opened a thrilling new chapter in exoplanet research by capturing the first-ever direct images of carbon dioxide in a distant planet’s atmosphere. This breakthrough not only confirms that the massive planets of HR 8799 likely formed through core accretion,

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to directly capture images of the planets in the star system HR 8799, which will help contextualize our existence in the universe.

For years, astronomers have sought a way to directly observe the atmospheres of exoplanets, worlds orbiting distant stars. Unlike indirect detection methods, such as transit observations or radial velocity measurements,