NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope spots a potential gas giant

Astronomers using NASA ’s James Webb Space Telescope believe they have spotted a giant planet orbiting a series of stars a little more than four light-years away.

The system, known as Alpha Centauri, is a triple star system, and due to its apparent brightness, scientists have struggled to confirm exactly how many planets may exist.

NASA says using the Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument has produced the clearest signal yet of a potential gas giant circling Alpha Centauri A – one of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system.

According to researchers, the planet is thought to be the size of Saturn and located farther from its parent star than Earth is from the Sun in our solar system. If confirmed, the planet would be the closest to Earth that orbits in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star