JWST tagged posts

Webb Telescope reveals Asteroid Collision in Neighboring Star System

Beta Pictoris
Two different space telescopes took snapshots 20 years apart of the same area around the star called Beta Pictoris. Scientists theorize that the massive amount of dust seen in the 2004–05 image from the Spitzer Space Telescope indicates a collision of asteroids that had largely cleared by the time the James Webb Space Telescope captured its images in 2023.
IMAGE CREDIT: ROBERTO MOLAR CANDANOSA/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, WITH BETA PICTORIS CONCEPT ART BY LYNETTE COOK/NASA

Astronomers have captured what appears to be a snapshot of a massive collision of giant asteroids in Beta Pictoris, a neighboring star system known for its early age and tumultuous planet-forming activity.

The observations spotlight the volatile processes that shape star systems like our own, offering a unique glim...

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JWST discovers large variety of Carbon-rich Gases that Serve as Ingredients for Future Planets around Very Low-Mass Star

Artist’s impression of a protoplanetary disk around a very low-mass star. It depicts a selection of hydrocarbon molecules (Methane, CH4; Ethane, C2H6; Ethylene, C2H2; Diacetylene, C4H2; Propyne, C3H4; Benzene, C6H6) detected in the disk around ISO-ChaI 147.
Artist’s impression of a protoplanetary disk around a very low-mass star. It depicts a selection of hydrocarbon molecules (Methane, CH4; Ethane, C2H6; Ethylene, C2H2; Diacetylene, C4H2; Propyne, C3H4; Benzene, C6H6) detected in the disk around ISO-ChaI 147.
© ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) / MPIA

Planets form in disks of gas and dust, orbiting young stars. The MIRI Mid-INfrared Disk Survey (MINDS), led by Thomas Henning from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany, aims to establish a representative disk sample. By exploring their chemistry and physical properties with MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the collaboration links those disks to the properties of planets potentially forming there.

In a new study, a team o...

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Astronomers find most Distant Galaxy using James Webb Space Telescope

This infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (also called Webb or JWST) was taken by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) for the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, program.
Credit. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA)

An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery of the two earliest and most distant galaxies ever seen, dating back to only 300 million years after the Big Bang. These results, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), mark a major milestone in the study of the early universe.

The discoveries were made by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) team. Daniel Eisenstein from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) is one of the team leaders of JADES and Principal Investigator of the observing program that revealed these galaxies...

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James Webb Space Telescope Data Pinpoint Possible Aurorae on an Old Brown Dwarf

Astronomers uncover methane emission on a cold brown dwarf

Using new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. Published in the journal Nature, the findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter and Saturn.

More massive than planets but lighter than stars, brown dwarfs are ubiquitous in our solar neighborhood, with thousands identified. Last year, Jackie Faherty, a senior research scientist and senior education manager at the American Museum of Natural History, led a team of researchers who were awarded time on JWST to investigate 12 brown dwarfs.

Among those was CWISEP J193518.59–154620...

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