Space and astronomy news
Debris disks are quite common in the Universe. Young stars have protoplanetary disks from which planets form. Black holes have accretion disks that are the source of the galactic jets. Supernova remnants can form a disk around neutron stars. So what about white dwarfs?
Continue reading “JWST Looks at the Debris Disc Around a White Dwarf”
In July 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) used its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) to capture stunning infrared images of the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter. Within these striking images, scientists recently discovered a jet stream in the northern latitudes just over Jupiter’s equator and 20-35 kilometers (12-21 miles) above Jupiter’s cloud tops. This jet stream stretches approximately 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) with speeds of 515 kilometers per hour (320 miles per hour), more than double the speed of a Category 5 hurricane on Earth.
Continue reading “A New Weather Feature was Hiding in JWST’s Picture of Jupiter”
Nature is stingy with its secrets. That’s why humans developed the scientific method. Without it, we’d still be ignorant and living in a world dominated by superstitions.
Astrophysicists have made great progress in understanding how stars form, thanks to the scientific method. But there’s a lot they still don’t know. That’s one of the reasons NASA built the James Webb Space Telescope: to coerce Nature into surrendering its deeply-held secrets.
Continue reading “Feast Your Eyes on this Star-Forming Region, Thanks to the JWST”
The TRAPPIST-1 system continues to fascinate astronomers, astrobiologists, and exoplanet hunters alike. In 2017, NASA announced that this red dwarf star (located 39 light-years away) was orbited by no less than seven rocky planets – three of which were within the star’s habitable zone (HZ). Since then, scientists have attempted to learn more about this system of planets to determine whether they could support life. Of particular concern is the way TRAPPIST-1 – like all M-type (red dwarf) stars – is prone to flare-ups, which could have a detrimental effect on planetary atmospheres.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astrophysicists led by the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) took a closer look at this volatile star. As they describe in their paper (which recently appeared online), the Webb data was used to perform a detailed spectroscopic investigation of four solar flares bursting around TRAPPIST-1. Their findings could help scientists characterize planetary environments around red dwarf stars and measure how flare activity can affect planetary habitability.
Continue reading “TRAPPIST-1 Has Flares. What Does This Mean for its Planets?”
There’s a common pattern in science. We develop some new process or tool that allows us to gather all kinds of data we’ve never had before, the data threatens to overturn all we’ve assumed about some long-established theory, and then the dust settles. Unfortunately, the early stage of this process generates a lot of sensationalism in the press. Early results from the JWST are a good example of this.
Continue reading “More JWST Observations are Finding Fewer Early Massive Galaxies”
The James Webb Space Telescope is widely considered to be better than the Hubble Space Telescope. But the JWST doesn’t replace its elder sibling; it’s the Hubble’s successor. The Hubble is nowhere near ready to retire. It’s still a powerful science instrument with lots to contribute. Comparing images of the same object, NGC 5068, from both telescopes illustrates each one’s value and how they can work together.
Continue reading “Compare Images of a Galaxy Seen by Both Hubble and JWST”
On July 12th, 2022, in an event live-streamed from the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) first images were released! Among them was the most detailed image of SMACS 0723, showing galaxy clusters and the gravitational lenses they produced. These lenses allowed astronomers to see deeper into the cosmos and spot galaxies as they appeared less than one billion years after the Big Bang (ca. 13 billion years ago). Upon further examination, however, they noticed something rather surprising about these early galaxies: they were much larger than expected!
According to the standard model of cosmology, the earliest galaxies in the Universe did not have enough time to become as bright, massive, and mature as they appeared. This raised many questions about our cosmological models and whether or not the Universe was older than previously thought. According to new simulations by a Northwestern University-led team of astrophysicists, these galaxies may not be so massive after all. According to their findings, they appear larger due to irregular and very bright bursts of star formation.
Continue reading “Those Impossibly Massive Early Galaxies Might Just Be Surprisingly Bright”
As of this month, astronomers have discovered 5,506 exoplanets orbiting other stars. That number is growing daily, and astronomers are hoping, among other things, to find Earth-like worlds. But will we know one when we see it? How might we be able to tell an Earth-like garden from a Venus-like pressure cooker from upwards of 40 light years away? Is JWST up to the challenge?
Continue reading “Can JWST Tell the Difference Between an Exo-Earth and an Exo-Venus?”
In 2009 a giant star 25 times more massive than the Sun simply…vanished. Okay, it wasn’t quite that simple. It underwent a period of brightening, increasing in luminosity to a million Suns, just as if it was ready to explode into a supernova. But then it faded rather than exploding. And when astronomers tried to see the star, using the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), Hubble, and the Spitzer space telescope, they couldn’t see anything.
The star, known as N6946-BH1, is now considered a failed supernova. The BH1 in its name is due to the fact that astronomers think the star collapsed to become a black hole rather than triggering a supernova. But that has been conjecture. All we’ve known for sure is that it brightened for a time then grew too dim for our telescopes to observe. But that has changed, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Continue reading “Astronomers Watched a Massive Star Just… Disappear. Now JWST Might Have Some Answers”
There may come a day when we grow weary of JWST images. But it’s not today. Today, we can lose ourselves in the space telescope’s engrossing image of NGC 6822, also called Barnard’s Galaxy.
Continue reading “Lose Yourself in the JWST’s Exquisite Image of Barnard’s Galaxy”