Key facts
- The FLIP method fits a 106-parameter physical model of Webb's NIRCam instrument using gradient descent.
- The optimization runs in a bit more than half an hour on a current GPU, the report said.
- The team reported signal-to-noise gains of 1.5 to 2 times on Webb observations of three stars.
- For TYC 5899, the approach raised observation sensitivity by a factor of 15, the researchers reported.
- The researchers said FLIP could help find dimmer, older or lower-mass planets previously missed.
A team of researchers has developed a method it calls FLIP, for Physics-based Learning for Imaging Planets, that pairs a physical model of the James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam instrument with software optimization, according to a report published November 5, 2026, in Nature.
The model carries 106 possible parameters. The optimization begins with a simulated point spread function, the pattern a point of light makes on a detector, then uses gradient descent to tune its performance against data from an actual star. On a current GPU the process takes a bit more than half an hour, the report said. The results are then fine-tuned on the scientific image being analyzed, a step the report describes as critical because some variables differ between observations.
The team tested the approach on observations of two stars with known exoplanets, HIP 65426 and 51 Eridani, and a third, TYC 5899, that has no known exoplanets but varies a lot between observations. These are young stars, and two of them have massive planets still warm from their gravitational collapse, allowing them to have been imaged previously.
Using Webb data, the team reported that FLIP raised the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 1.5 to 2, depending on the observations. At a wavelength usable for detecting carbon dioxide, they spotted one of the planets in the Webb data for the first time. For TYC 5899, the approach raised the sensitivity of the observations by a factor of 15.
The researchers said the applications go beyond a better view of known planets: by lowering the noise, dimmer planets, and hence older or lower-mass ones, that had previously eluded detection should also be findable. They also said they think FLIP can be modified to show where it makes the largest changes to the model, which could yield information about the telescope's hardware.