James Webb Space Telescope tagged posts

Discovering Rare Red Spiral Galaxy Population from Early Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope

Morphology of galaxies contain important information about the process of galaxy formation and evolution. With its state-of-the-art resolution, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now captured several red spiral galaxies in its first image at an unprecedented resolution. Researchers have now analyzed these galaxies, revealing that these are among the furthest known spiral galaxies till date. The analysis further detected a passive red spiral galaxy in the early universe, a surprising discovery.

Spiral galaxies represent one of the most spectacular features in our universe. Among them, spiral galaxies in the distant universe contain significant information about their origin and evolution...

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Meteorites plus Gamma Rays could have given Earth the Building Blocks for Life

Close up of chondrite meteorite, an orange and grey rock
The building blocks of life, amino acids, could have been formed in early meteorites, such as the one shown here.
Credit: abriendomundo/Shutterstock.com

Even as detailed images of distant galaxies from the James Webb Space Telescope show us more of the greater universe, scientists still disagree about how life began here on Earth. One hypothesis is that meteorites delivered amino acids – life’s building blocks – to our planet. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have experimentally shown that amino acids could have formed in these early meteorites from reactions driven by gamma rays produced inside the space rocks.

Ever since Earth was a newly formed, sterile planet, meteorites have been hurtling through the atmosphere at high speeds toward its surface...

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James Webb Space Telescope reveals new surprises on Galaxy Organic Molecules Near Black Holes

James Webb Space Telescope reveals new surprises on galaxy organic molecules near black holes
Maps of the central ∼6″ region of NGC 7469, which includes the AGN and the circumnuclear ring of star formation. Top-left panel: in color and black contours is the JWST/F770W PSF-subtracted image (which mainly traces the 7.7 μm PAH band). Black regions (s1, s2, s3, s4, s5, s6, and s7) correspond to selected circumnuclear zones of NGC 7469. Red and blue regions (o1, o2, o3, o4, o5, and o6) are in the outflow region. The green line represents the orientation of the nuclear molecular gas bar. The gray lines correspond to the approximate outflow region according to the [S IV]λ10.51 μm velocity map (see Appendix B). The white box represents the JWST/MRS ch1 FoV (3.2″ × 3.7″), which is practically identical to the Spitzer/IRS angular resolution...
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Mars is mighty in first Webb observations of Red Planet

First Webb observations of Mars
First Webb observations of Mars

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured its first images and spectra of Mars Sept. 5. The telescope, an international collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), provides a unique perspective with its infrared sensitivity on our neighboring planet, complementing data being collected by orbiters, rovers, and other telescopes.

Webb’s unique observation post nearly a million miles away at the sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2) provides a view of Mars’s observable disk (the portion of the sunlit side that is facing the telescope)...

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