Meteorite

01/02/2023

A whole new world!

41 light-years away is the small, rocky planet LHS 475 b. At 99% of Earth’s diameter, it’s almost exactly the same size as our home world. This marks the first time researchers have used the Webb telescope to confirm an exoplanet.

NASA’s TESS mission hinted at the planet’s existence, making it a target of interest for Webb. Webb’s NIRSpec instrument then captured the planet easily and clearly with just 2 transit observations.

Although Webb data definitively tells us that LHS 475 b is a small rocky world, the existence and composition of its atmosphere is a mystery. The planet is a few hundred degrees warmer than Earth and very close to its star, completing an orbit in just 2 days. However, its red dwarf star is much cooler than our Sun, so scientists theorize an atmosphere is still possible. Additional follow-up observations are scheduled this summer.

Learn more about this exciting new discovery: https://go.nasa.gov/3Grxl0U

Credits: Illustration - NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI); Science - K. Stevenson, J. Lustig-Yaeger, E. May (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), G. Fu (Johns Hopkins University), and S. Moran (University of Arizona)

01/02/2023

What was star formation like in the early universe? One way to study conditions in the distant past is to find parallels close by. That's why Webb took a look at star-forming region NGC 346 within our neighboring dwarf galaxy.

NGC 346 resides in the Small Magellanic Cloud, which has a composition much closer to that of galaxies from the early universe — when star formation was at its peak. By observing NGC 346, astronomers may learn what early star formation in far-off galaxies might have looked like.

Webb’s sensitivity allows it to see much smaller protostars (baby stars) than previously observed. The telescope can even see the dust in the disks of gas around those protostars, which is a first! Essentially, Webb is seeing the building blocks of not just stars, but also potentially planets. This could lead to learning if rocky planets formed earlier in the universe than we thought.

Read more: go.nasa.gov/3CFXiJo

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, O. Jones (UK ATC), G. De Marchi (ESTEC), and M. Meixner (USRA), with image processing by A. Pagan (STScI), N. Habel (USRA), L. Lenkic (USRA) and L. Chu (NASA/Ames)

01/02/2023

You’re blocked! 🚫

To see the dusty disk around a young star, Webb blocked out starlight (represented here by the white star symbol) using a coronagraph, or mask. This is the first time that this disk, made of leftover debris from planet formation, has been observed in infrared wavelengths. Webb offers clues into both the history and composition of the disk.

The young star is AU Mic, a nearby red dwarf star with two known planets. Webb’s images allowed the science team to trace the disk as close to the star as 5 astronomical units (460 million miles) — the equivalent of Jupiter’s orbit in our solar system.

The ultimate goal for studying systems like AU Mic is to use Webb’s unprecedented sensitivity to observe giant planets in wide orbits, similar to Jupiter & Saturn in our own solar system. Webb’s observations mark new, uncharted territory for direct imaging around low-mass stars.

Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/3vYuRCI

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and K. Lawson (Goddard Space Flight Center). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI)

01/02/2023

With our powers combined 😎

Chandra X-ray Observatory teamed up with the Webb telescope to create a new stunning composite image of the Tarantula Nebula. Chandra's X-rays (shown in royal blue and purple) identify extremely hot gas and supernova explosion remnants, while Webb reveals forming baby stars.

Unlike most nebulas in our Milky Way, the Tarantula Nebula has a chemical composition similar to that of conditions in our galaxy several billion years ago — when star formation was at its peak. For astronomers, this nebula is the perfect window into how stars formed in our galaxy in the distant past.

Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/3iFT0Lh

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JWST ERO Production Team

01/02/2023

01/02/2023

No sugar or spice, but everything ice ❄️

In this molecular cloud (a birthplace of stars and planets), Webb scientists found a variety of icy ingredients. These frozen molecules, like carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane, could go on to become building blocks of life.

We’re not talking ice cubes here. This molecular cloud is so cold and dark that various molecules — not just water — have actually frozen onto the grains of dust inside the cloud. With its data, Webb demonstrates for the first time that molecules more complex than methanol (CH3OH) can form in the icy depths of molecular clouds before stars are born.

How did we figure out what molecules were in the cloud? Using Webb’s infrared abilities, researchers studied how starlight from beyond the molecular cloud was absorbed by the icy molecules within. This process left us with “chemical fingerprints,” or absorption lines, that could be compared with lab data to identify the molecules.

Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/3Xy08bJ
Download this image: https://bit.ly/3j1W2th

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and M. Zamani (ESA). Science: M. K. McClure (Leiden Observatory), F. Sun (Steward Observatory), Z. Smith (Open University), and the Ice Age ERS Team

01/02/2023

01/02/2023

The James Webb Space Telescope team is honored to receive the 2023 John L. “Jack” Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration, a top award from the Space Foundation.

“Webb is the culmination of decades of persistence and once-unthinkable human ingenuity made possible by international partnerships. Together, we are unfolding the universe and inspiring the world.” -NASA Administrator Bill Nelson

Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/3Re1NR6

01/02/2023

Welcome to Galactic Park 🦕

Taken during instrument calibration, this image helped test Webb's ability to dig up galactic "fossils." Ancient galaxies are so far away that as space expands, their light has stretched into infrared wavelengths — Webb's specialty.

Did that large spiral galaxy towards the bottom of the image catch your eye? Named LEDA 2046648, it’s a little over a billion light-years from Earth and located in the constellation Hercules.

Using images such as this one, scientists can compare galactic “dinosaurs” with modern galaxies. In turn, this helps us learn more about how galaxies evolve — making Webb the ultimate space paleontologist.

Read more and download here: https://esawebb.org/images/potm2301a/

01/02/2023

After recently passing a critical test, NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor — an infrared telescope that will search for potentially threatening asteroids — has entered the building phase.

NEO Surveyor is the successor to the space agency's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission, which discovered thousands of near-Earth objects and classified them as asteroids or comets. When NEO Surveyor launches, it will be the first mission to seek out multiple near-Earth asteroids at once. Some of its hardware and instruments are now being built so that the telescope can ultimately detect even faint asteroids.

"NEO Surveyor represents the next generation for NASA's ability to quickly detect, track, and characterize potentially hazardous near-Earth objects," Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, said in a statement.

Related: The greatest asteroid missions of all time!

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The most important NEO Surveyor instruments that are now being developed are its hypersensitive infrared detectors, which will find distant asteroids that reflect thermal infrared. Earth's atmosphere blocks too much infrared radiation for telescopes on the ground to observe such objects. By orbiting in space, NEO Surveyor will have the advantage of being above the atmosphere, and its sunshield will block sunlight to allow the telescope to see objects coming from the direction of the sun. The detectors also will be able to make out asteroids' shapes, compositions and rotations.

NEO Surveyor's radiators and struts are also being built to protect its infrared detectors, which will need to be kept cooler than the spacecraft's electronics. The new radiators can cool passively, as opposed to previous radiators that needed to be constantly active, and still be just as effective at keeping instruments from overheating. The struts are made of material that does not conduct heat well, so they can divide the detectors from the rest of the spacecraft. This is critical because the sunshield will be especially hot from blocking sunlight.

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Also in progress are NEO Surveyor's beam splitters (which split beams of light into a transmitted beam and a reflected beam), enclosure, electronics, and solid aluminum mirror.

NEO Surveyor is the next level up in detecting asteroids that may be on a collision course with our planet. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission proved that it is possible to push an incoming asteroid slightly out of its orbit, but mission control needs to be aware of it first. This is how NEO Surveyor and its successors could literally save Earth from the fate of the dinosaurs in the future.

NEO Surveyor is scheduled to launch in June 2028.

01/02/2023

The dimming of a distant star wasn't caused by internal changes, but rather by it being eclipsed by a cloud of dust surrounding a companion star. The discovery implies the star, Gaia17bpp, is part of a rare type of binary system and its recently observed sudden brightening was the result of the eclipse by a white dwarf companion ending.

Astronomers made the discovery as they searched data from the Gaia survey for unusual and oddball stars. They found that Gaia17bpp had gradually brightened over a two-and-a-half-year period with follow-up investigations revealing it had been dimmed for seven years as a result of being obscured by dust surrounding its odd companion.

The discovery was one of exceptional good fortune as the binary system has a long orbital period, meaning it is rare to catch one eclipsing the other. In fact, such events may come just once a millennium.

Related: Pew, pew! Massive 'oddball' blasts a jet of material at over a million mph

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"We believe that this star is part of an exceptionally rare type of binary system, between a large, puffy older star — Gaia17bpp — and a small companion star that is surrounded by an expansive disk of dusty material," one half of the duo, University of Washington astronomer Anastasios Tzanidakis, said in a statement(opens in new tab). "Based on our analysis, these two stars orbit each other over an exceptionally long period of time — as much as 1,000 years. So, catching this bright star being eclipsed by its dusty companion is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Gaia's observations of Gaia17bpp only date back to 2014, so along with collaborator University of Washington assistant professor of astronomy and associate director of the DiRAC Institute(opens in new tab), James Davenport, Tzanidakis had to do extra investigative legwork to solve the mystery of the star's behavior.

The first step for the duo and their teammates was to combine Gaia observations with observations from other missions such as Pan-STARRS1, WISE/NEOWISE, and the Zwicky Transient Facility, which date as far back as 2010.

The star Gaia17bpp, circled in red, as shown by the Pan-STARRS1 and DSS missions.

The star Gaia17bpp, circled in red, as shown by the Pan-STARRS1 and DSS missions. (Image credit: Anastasios Tzanidakis/Pan-STARRS1/DSS)
This revealed to Tzanidakis and Davenport that the star had become 63 times or 4.5 magnitudes dimmer over the course of 7 years between 2012 to 2019 and that the rapid brightening of Gaia17bpp marked the end of this period.

The astronomers went back further using the DASCH(opens in new tab) program, a digital catalog of over 100 years of astrophotographic plates stored at Harvard University, to track the star's brightness since the 1950s. They found no similar periods of dimming for Gaia17bpp or other stars in its vicinity.

"Over 66 years of observational history, we found no other signs of significant dimming in this star," said Tzanidakis. He and Davenport think that Gaia17bpp exists in a rare type of binary system with a dusty companion star.

"Based on the data currently available, this star appears to have a slow-moving companion that is surrounded by a large disk of material," Tzanidakis continued. "If that material were in the solar system, it would extend from the sun to Earth's orbit, or farther."

The binary containing Gaia17bpp isn't the first dusty system spotted by astronomers. One notable example of such a binary contains Epsilon Aurigae. For 2 years out of every 27, this star in the constellation Auriga is eclipsed by its large and dim companion.

While the companion of Epsilon Aurigae is of a mysterious nature, its identity thus far unconfirmed, preliminary data indicates that the dusty eclipsing companion of Gaia17bpp is a white dwarf star.

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White dwarfs are stellar remnants that are born when stars of similar masses to the sun run out of hydrogen fuel for nuclear fusion and can no longer generate the energy that protects them from gravitational collapse. Lacking the mass to trigger further nuclear fusion that would see them join a pathway to becoming a neutron star or black hole these low-mass stars are instead left as smoldering white dwarfs.

Though the nature of the companion of Gaia17bpp may be known, the source of the dusty debris which takes a disk-like shape around the white dwarf remains a mystery.

Compared to other dusty binaries the 7-year dimming of Gaia17bpp indicates what is by far the longest eclipse period. Additionally, the vast distance between Gaia17bpp and its companion means it will be centuries before any other astronomers witness the dusty binary during an eclipse.

"This was a serendipitous discovery. If we had been a few years off, we would've missed it," Tzanidakis concluded. "It also indicates that these types of binaries might be much more common. If so, we need to come up with theories about how this type of pairing even arose. It's definitely an oddity, but it might be much more common than anyone has appreciated."

Tzanidakis presented the team's findings at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society(opens in new tab) in Seattle on Tuesday (Jan. 10).