A new view of exoplanets with NASA's upcoming Webb Telescope

While we now know of thousands of exoplanets--planets around other stars--the vast majority of our knowledge is indirect. That is, scientists have not actually taken many pictures of exoplanets, and because of the limits of current technology, we can only see these worlds as points of light. However, the number of exoplanets that have been directly imaged is growing over time. When NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launches in 2021, it will open a new window on these exoplanets, observing them i...