Space and astronomy news
What’s the most exciting thing about the James Webb Space Telescope? The stunning images? The completion of its torturous path from concept to launch?
Or is it because it provides such compelling visual evidence of objects and processes long theorized about but difficult to observe?
Continue reading “The Latest JWST Image Shows a Star in the Earliest Stage of Formation”
Micrometeoroid strikes are an unavoidable part of operating a spacecraft. But after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was hit with a larger than expected piece of space dust earlier this year, engineers are making changes to the way the telescope will be pointed in an attempt to avoid excess or larger impacts from space dust.
Continue reading “NASA has a Plan to Minimize Future Micrometeoroid Impacts on JWST”
The James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science (ERS) program – first released on July 12th, 2022 – has proven to be a treasure trove of scientific finds and breakthroughs. Among the many areas of research it is enabling, there’s the study of Resolved Stellar Populations (RSTs), which was the subject of ERS 1334. This refers to large groups of stars close enough that individual stars can be discerned but far enough apart that telescopes can capture many of them at once. A good example is the Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte (WLM) dwarf galaxy that neighbors the Milky Way.
Kristen McQuinn, an assistant professor of astrophysics at Rutgers University, is one of the lead scientists of the Webb ERS program whose work is focused on RSTs. Recently, she spoke to Natasha Piro, a NASA senior communications specialist, about how the JWST has enabled new studies of the WLM. Webb‘s improved observations have revealed that this galaxy hasn’t interacted with other galaxies in the past. According to McQuinn, this makes it a great candidate for astronomers to test theories of galaxy formation and evolution. Here are the highlights of that interview:
Continue reading “This Nearby Dwarf Galaxy has Been a Loner for Almost the Entire age of the Universe”
Engineers with the James Webb Space Telescope have figured out a way to work around a friction issue that arose with the telescopes’ Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The team is now planning to resume observations with the instrument’s medium resolution spectrometry (MRS) mode, which has not been used since August.
Continue reading “Woohoo! JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument is Fully Operational Again”
The hits just keep on streaming back to Earth from James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This time, arriving to help celebrate Hallowe’en, data from the MIRI mid-infrared instrument onboard JWST shows another view of the Pillars of Creation. Thousands of stars are embedded in those pillars, but many are “invisible” to MIRI.
Continue reading “Another Version of the Pillars of Creation from Webb”
Less than a year after it went to space, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has already demonstrated its worth many times over. The images it has acquired of distant galaxies, nebulae, exoplanet atmospheres, and deep fields are the most detailed and sensitive ever taken. And yet, one of the most exciting aspects of its mission is just getting started: the search for evidence of life beyond Earth. This will consist of Webb using its powerful infrared instruments to look for chemical signatures associated with life and biological processes (aka. biosignatures).
The chemical signatures vary, each representing a different pathway toward the potential discovery of life. According to The Conversation’s Joanna Barstow, a planetary scientist and an Ernest Rutherford Fellow at The Open University specializing in the study of exoplanet atmospheres, there are four ways that Webb could do this. These include looking for chemicals that lifeforms depend on, chemical byproducts produced by living organisms, chemicals essential to maintaining a stable climate, and chemicals that shouldn’t coexist.
Continue reading “Here are Four Ways JWST Could Detect Alien Life”
In a recent study accepted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, an international team of researchers led by Texas A&M University investigate how the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can detect a variety of exoplanets orbiting the nearest 15 white dwarfs to Earth using its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) Medium Resolution Spectrograph (MRS). This study holds the potential to expand our knowledge of exoplanets, their planetary compositions, and if they can support life.
Continue reading “Webb Can Detect Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs, And Maybe Even See Signs of Life”
Earlier this month we asked, what could be better than a pair of galaxies observed by a pair of iconic space telescopes? Now, there is an exciting new answer. Even better than a pair of galaxies is a pair of galaxies that are colliding!
The Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope have each taken a look at a pair of intertwined galaxies that are 270 million light-year away from Earth, together called IC 1623. Scientists say this galactic collision has ignited frenzied star formation called a starburst, creating new stars at a rate more than 20 times that of our Milky Way.
Continue reading “Webb and Hubble Peer Into the Wreckage of a Galactic Collision”
NASA scientist have released images combining the early data from the James Webb Space Telescope with X-ray data taken with the Chandra Observatory. Besides their beauty, the images offer insights into the inner workings of some of the most complex astrophysical phenomena in the universe.
Continue reading “Chandra’s X-ray Vision Combined With JWST Reveals Even More Details About the Universe”
The James Webb Space Telescope is living up to expectations. When it was launched, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said it would “… open up secrets of the universe that will be just stupendous, if not almost overwhelming.” Nelson’s statement rings true a few months into the telescope’s multi-year mission.
Continue reading “Here’s Webb’s View of the Pillars of Creation”