This discovery by Webb provides strong evidence that the giant planets in HR 8799 formed through core accretion, much like Jupiter, Saturn.

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first direct images of carbon dioxide in a planet outside the solar system in HR 8799, a multiplanet system 130 light-years away that has long been a key target for planet formation studies.

The gas giants outside our solar system are not capable of hosting extraterrestrial life, but do offer clues in a lingering mystery about how distant planets form, researchers said.