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[W: 329] The James Webb Space Telescope Photo Album Thread

 
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Astronomers may be getting Webb Space Telescope exoplanet measurements wrong​

www.space.com

Astronomers may be getting Webb Space Telescope exoplanet measurements wrong

Compositions of exoplanet atmospheres may be skewed because models don't match James Webb Space Telescope's precision.
www.space.com www.space.com
By Tereza Pultarova published 23 days ago Compositions of exoplanet atmospheres may be skewed because models don't match James Webb Space Telescope's precision.

1665288518449.png​

There are potentially hundreds of billions of exoplanets in the Milky Way and many of them are likely to have conditions suitable for life. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble, N. Bartmann)

Astronomers may be interpreting James Webb Space Telescope's measurements of exoplanet atmospheres wrong, a new study suggests.

The James Webb Space Telescope, the most complex space observatory ever built, captures stunning images of the most distant reaches of the universe.

It also takes measurements of the chemical compositions of the intriguing stars, galaxies, and nebulas it sees. To interpret this data, scientists rely on complex models.

But a new study by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), found that these models are not accurate enough to capture the nuances of Webb's observations.

The relative crudeness of these models, the scientists said in a statement(opens in new tab), might mean that the analysis of atmospheres of distant exoplanets "could be off by an order of magnitude."

— James Webb Space Telescope glimpses Earendel, the most distant star known in the universe

— James Webb Space Telescope spots baby stars cocooned in the Orion Nebula

— Iconic James Webb Space Telescope images turned into music
 

Pair of stars create a "fingerprint"​

in a photo taken by James Webb Space Telescope​

BY ERIN PFLAUMER OCTOBER 12, 2022 / 6:04 PM / CBS NEWS

​


Two intertwined stars are creating what looks like a "fingerprint" in space. NASA released a photo Wednesday taken of the duo by the James Webb Space Telescope, which shows at least 17 dust rings surrounding the stars.

wolfrayetfingerprintstar.jpg
Two stars, known collectively as the Wolf-Rayet 140, are creating dust rings in space that resembles a fingerprint in a photo taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.NASA

The photos were taken with the help of the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument, which was created by NASA and the European Space Agency.

The stars, known collectively as Wolf-Rayet 140, are located 5,000 light years from Earth, NASA said in a news release. Each dust ring is formed as the two stars come close together during their orbit, causing gases emitting from both to compress and make the rings, NASA explained.

...snip...

The swept-up material from Wolf-Rayet stars can accumulate and form new stars. NASA revealed there is some evidence to show the sun may have also been formed that way. Only 600 Wolf-Rayet stars have been found by astronomers in the sky, but they say there should be at least a few thousand.
 

The James Webb Space Telescope never disproved the Big Bang.​

Here's how that falsehood spread.​

www.space.com

The James Webb Space Telescope never disproved the Big Bang. Here's how that falsehood spread.

The Big Bang theory is still on solid ground, despite pseudoscientific attempts to twist JWST's findings
www.space.com www.space.com
The Big Bang theory is still on solid ground, despite pseudoscientific attempts to twist JWST's findings
field of stars and galaxies against black background
JWST's deepest image of the universe taken so far, containing potentially the most distant galaxies ever seen. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has not disproved the Big Bang, despite an article about a pseudoscientific theory that went viral in August, and which mischaracterized quotes from an astrophysicist to create a false narrative that the Big Bang didn't happen.

Although the James Webb Space Telescope has only been conducting science operations for a few months, it has already made some iconic discoveries, including the detection of what could be some of the earliest galaxies ever seen, that existed just 200 million years after the Big Bang. Although issues with calibrating the instruments might mean that some of these galaxies are not as distant as first thought, JWST has almost certainly broken the record with some of them.

"JWST is designed to find the very earliest galaxies in the universe," Allison Kirkpatrick, an astrophysicist at the University of Kansas, told Space.com. "One of the things that it found is that those galaxies are possibly more massive than we thought they would be, while another surprising thing is that it revealed that these galaxies have a lot of structure, and we didn't think galaxies were this well organized so early in the universe."

  • The first step in science denial is cherrypicking evidence," McIntyre told Space.com.
  • Number 2 is that they lie about conspiracy theories.
  • Number 3 is they engage in illogical reasoning.
  • Number 4 is they rely on fake experts and denigrate real experts.
  • And number 5, they insist that science has to be perfect in order to be credible.

6 WAYS TO AVOID FALLING VICTIM TO SCIENCE DENIERS:
  • 1. Check the source — is it from a reputable source such as a peer-reviewed journal or a mainstream news site?
    2. Qualifications — is the writer with a university or reputable institution, or are they an 'independent researcher' with no accreditation?
    3. Who else agrees — can you find other accredited experts from mainstream institutions who are in agreement, or at least provide some validity?
    4. References — has the writer done their research and cited other credible research to support their results?
    5. Follow the logic — are they just cherrypicking evidence, leaving things out to suit their narrative?
    6. Become an expert — if all else fails, and you're still not sure, then do a bit of open-minded reading on the subject to make sure you're not being misled.
 

Webb Offers Never-Before-Seen Details of Early Universe​

Webb Offers Never-Before-Seen Details of Early Universe – James Webb Space Telescope

blogs.nasa.gov blogs.nasa.gov

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was specially designed to detect faint infrared light from very distant galaxies and give astronomers a glimpse at the early universe. The nature of galaxies during this early period of our universe is not well known nor understood. But with the help of gravitational lensing by a cluster of galaxies in the foreground, faint background galaxies can be magnified and also appear multiple times in different parts of the image.

The massive gravity of galaxy cluster MACS0647 acts as a cosmic lens to bend and magnify light from the more distant MACS0647-JD system. It also triply lensed the JD system, causing its image to appear in three separate locations. These images, which are highlighted with white boxes, are marked JD1, JD2, and JD3; zoomed-in views are shown in the panels at the right. In this image from Webb’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument, blue was assigned to wavelengths of 1.15 and 1.5 microns (F115W, F150W), green to wavelengths of 2.0 and 2.77 microns (F200W, F277W) and red to wavelengths of 3.65 and 4.44 microns (F365W, F444W). Download the full-resolution version from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Credits: SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and Tiger Hsiao (Johns Hopkins University) IMAGE PROCESSING: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
STSCI-J-v22502a-f-2000x1463-1.gif
This is a comparison between the Hubble Space Telescope images of MACS0647-JD from 2012 (filter information on Hubblesite.org) and the 2022 images from the James Webb Space Telescope (using the same color assignments as the image above). Note that MACS0647-JD appears as a faint, red dot in the Hubble image, but Webb reveals much more detail. Download the full-resolution version from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Credits: SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and Tiger Hsiao (Johns Hopkins University) IMAGE PROCESSING: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
 

Webb Space Telescope’s​

Eerie New View of “Pillars of Creation” Looks Supernatural​

TOPICS: Astronomy James Webb Space Telescope
By CAROLYN COLLINS PETERSEN, UNIVERSE TODAY NOVEMBER 2, 2022
scitechdaily.com

Webb Space Telescope’s Eerie New View of “Pillars of Creation” Looks Supernatural

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just keeps streaming the hits back to Earth. This time, data from the MIRI mid-infrared instrument onboard JWST shows a haunting view of the Pillars of Creation. Thousands of stars are embedded in those pillars, but many are “invisible” to MIRI. In the lat
scitechdaily.com
James Webb Space Telescope Pillars of Creation
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared view of the Pillars of Creation strikes a chilling and ghostly tone. Thousands of stars that exist in this region disappear from view — and seemingly endless layers of gas and dust become the centerpiece. Credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just keeps streaming the hits back to Earth. This time, data from the MIRI mid-infrared instrument onboard JWST shows a haunting view of the Pillars of Creation. Thousands of stars are embedded in those pillars, but many are “invisible” to MIRI.

In the latest image, the Pillars have a steely gray look about them. They almost look like cosmic gravestones instead of stellar birthplaces. Why is this? Mid-infrared light is an important part of the spectrum for astronomers interested in studying clouds of dust. It reveals gas and dust in intricate detail. The densest areas of dust in the pillars show up as the darkest shades of grey. The red V-shaped region toward the top is where the dust clouds are thinner and cooler.
 

James Webb Space Telescope could help hunt for habitable alien worlds​

www.space.com

James Webb Space Telescope could help hunt for habitable alien worlds

A new framework for the study of planets outside the solar system could help the James Webb Telescope hunt for worlds that could support humans.
www.space.com www.space.com
By Robert Lea published 1 day ago

An illustration of the Trappist-1 system.
An illustration of the Trappist-1 system. (Image credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)

Astronomers have analyzed the distant Earth-like planet TRAPPIST-1e to develop a framework that will help scientists determine if any planets outside the solar system could harbor life or could be fit for human habitation.

TRAPPIST-1e is one of seven worlds in the Trappist-1 system orbiting a relatively cool M-dwarf star located 39 light-years from Earth.

The fact that all of these extrasolar planets  —  or exoplanets  —  are thought to be rocky or terrestrial worlds that are of similar sizes to Earth has made the TRAPPIST-1 system a primary focus for the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

Over the coming year, the system and TRAPPIST-1e 
—  considered one of the most 'potentially habitable' exoplanets ever discovered 
—  in particular, will be the subject of intense study by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
 

Scientists discover massive 'extragalactic structure' behind the Milky Way​

MSN

www.msn.com
An uncharted region of space known as the "zone of avoidance" lurks behind the Milky Way's center
– and astronomers just found an enormous, multi-galaxy structure there.

1668397733892.png​
A composite image showing the 58 galaxies clustered together in the "zone of avoidance" behind the Milky Way. (Image credit: Galdeano et al. / ESO)

Astronomers have detected an enormous extragalactic structure hiding in an uncharted region of space far beyond the Milky Way's center.

This phantom region, known as the zone of avoidance, is a blank spot on our map of the universe, comprising somewhere between 10% and 20% of the night sky.

The reason we can't see it
— at least with standard visible light telescopes
— is because the Milky Way's bulging center blocks our view of it; the center of our galaxy is so dense with stars, dust, and other matter that light from the zone of avoidance gets scattered or absorbed before reaching Earth's telescopes.

However, researchers have had better luck uncovering the zone's secrets with telescopes that can detect infrared radiation — a type of energy that's invisible to human eyes, but powerful enough to shine through dense clouds of gas and dust. Infrared surveys of the zone of avoidance have found evidence of thousands of individual galaxies shining through the cosmic fog, though little is known about the large-scale structures that lurk there.

However, the mere detection of this colossal object shows that the zone of avoidance may not be as inscrutable as was once thought. Future infrared studies — including potential observations by the James Webb Space Telescope, which has already used its infrared camera to take the deepest image of the universe to date — should further help scientists unlock the hidden secrets beyond the Milky Way's bulge.
 
HangLow said:

Scientists discover massive 'extragalactic structure' behind the Milky Way​

MSN

www.msn.com
An uncharted region of space known as the "zone of avoidance" lurks behind the Milky Way's center
– and astronomers just found an enormous, multi-galaxy structure there.

A composite image showing the 58 galaxies clustered together in the "zone of avoidance" behind the Milky Way. (Image credit: Galdeano et al. / ESO)

Astronomers have detected an enormous extragalactic structure hiding in an uncharted region of space far beyond the Milky Way's center.

This phantom region, known as the zone of avoidance, is a blank spot on our map of the universe, comprising somewhere between 10% and 20% of the night sky.

The reason we can't see it
— at least with standard visible light telescopes
— is because the Milky Way's bulging center blocks our view of it; the center of our galaxy is so dense with stars, dust, and other matter that light from the zone of avoidance gets scattered or absorbed before reaching Earth's telescopes.

However, researchers have had better luck uncovering the zone's secrets with telescopes that can detect infrared radiation — a type of energy that's invisible to human eyes, but powerful enough to shine through dense clouds of gas and dust. Infrared surveys of the zone of avoidance have found evidence of thousands of individual galaxies shining through the cosmic fog, though little is known about the large-scale structures that lurk there.

However, the mere detection of this colossal object shows that the zone of avoidance may not be as inscrutable as was once thought. Future infrared studies — including potential observations by the James Webb Space Telescope, which has already used its infrared camera to take the deepest image of the universe to date — should further help scientists unlock the hidden secrets beyond the Milky Way's bulge.
Click to expand...

Eek! It's hiding behind the galactic center! Am I the only one who doesn't trust it?
 

5 Reasons Why the James Webb Space Telescope Is Such a Big Deal​

By Gerri Miller Updated August 9, 2022
www.treehugger.com

5 Reasons Why the James Webb Space Telescope Is Such a Big Deal

The highly anticipated successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in spring 2021.
www.treehugger.com www.treehugger.com

__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__mnn__images__2016__11__James_Webb_Telescope_Model_at_South_by_Southwest-9076e793826d47a98f132c42c082e76f.jpg

A full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope — the most powerful optical and infrared space observatory ever created — is displayed in Austin, Texas. Chris Gunn/NASA
 

9 Telescopes That Will Change How We See Space​

www.treehugger.com

9 Telescopes That Will Change How We See Space

Powerful new tools are rapidly improving Earth's view of the universe.
www.treehugger.com www.treehugger.com

1. MeerKAT radio telescope (South Africa)​

2. European Extremely Large Telescope (Chile)​

3. Giant Magellan Telescope (Chile)​

4. Thirty Meter Telescope (Hawaii)​

5. Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (Chile)​

6. James Webb Space Telescope​

7. Wfirst​

The JWST isn't the only exciting new space telescope on NASA's plate. The agency also acquired two repurposed spy telescopes from the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in 2012, each of which has a 2.4-meter primary mirror along with a secondary mirror to enhance image sharpness. Either of these repurposed telescopes could be more powerful than Hubble, according to NASA, which has been planning to use one for a mission to study dark energy from orbit.

That mission, titled WFIRST (for "Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope"), was originally going to use a telescope with mirrors between 1.3 and 1.5 meters in diameter. The NRO spy telescope will offer big improvements over that, NASA says, potentially yielding "Hubble-quality imaging over an area of sky 100 times larger than Hubble."

8. Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (China)

9. ExTrA project (Chile)​

 

We Just Got The Most Detailed View of an Exoplanet Atmosphere Yet – And It's Active​

SPACE27 November 2022 by Michelle STARR
www.sciencealert.com

We Just Got The Most Detailed View of an Exoplanet Atmosphere Yet - And It's Active

WASP-39b, a gas giant about 700 light-years away, is turning out to be quite the exoplanetary treasure.
www.sciencealert.com www.sciencealert.com

wasp-38b-illustration-642x260.jpg

An artist's impression of exoplanet WASP-39b. (NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted/STScI)​

WASP-39b, a gas giant about 700 light-years away, is turning out to be quite the exoplanetary treasure.

Earlier this year, WASP-39b was the subject of the first-ever detection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the Solar System.

Now, an in-depth analysis of data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has given us an absolute goldmine of information: the most detailed look at an exoplanet atmosphere yet.

The results include information about WASP-39b's clouds, the first-ever direct detection of photochemistry in an exoplanet atmosphere, and a nearly complete inventory of the atmosphere's chemical contents that reveal tantalizing hints of the exoplanet's formation history.
See the earlier story...

[W: 329] The James Webb Space Telescope Photo Album Thread

Here is a cool video with some much needed perspective on exactly how cool the Webb images are:
debatepolitics.com debatepolitics.com

[W: 329] The James Webb Space Telescope Photo Album Thread

It all depends on where Webb is in its orbit. I did not think about that... An ole bastard like me needs to keep up with my keys... I thought if they know where Hubble found it... Just dial it up...
debatepolitics.com debatepolitics.com
 
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Astronomers Grapple with JWST’s Discovery of Early Galaxies​

www.scientificamerican.com

Astronomers Grapple with JWST’s Discovery of Early Galaxies

Researchers are convinced the James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed an unexpected population of galaxies in the early universe. Now they’re trying to decide what this means for our understanding of the cosmos
www.scientificamerican.com www.scientificamerican.com
Researchers are convinced the James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed an unexpected population of galaxies in the early universe.

Now they’re trying to decide what this means for our understanding of the cosmos...
By Jonathan O'Callaghan on December 6, 2022

Astronomers Grapple with JWST's Discovery of Early Galaxies
Two of the farthest galaxies seen to date are captured in these JWST images of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The galaxies are not inside the cluster, but many billions of light-years farther behind it.

The galaxy labeled (1) existed only 450 million years after the big bang, and
the galaxy labeled (2) existed 350 million years after the big bang.

Although both are tiny compared to our Milky Way, their size and brightness exceed predictions from consensus models of galaxy formation in the early universe.
Credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, Tommaso Treu (UCLA); Image Processing: Zolt G. Levay (STScI)

In their quest to understand the first stars and galaxies that lit up the cosmos, astronomers are still in the dark—but getting closer to enlightenment one discovery at a time.

That’s the almost inescapable conclusion from initial observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the $10-billion observatory that began science operations in July. Designed to glimpse the faint infrared glow of the universe’s earliest luminous objects, JWST’s vision reaches back into the first few hundred million years after the big bang, allowing it to obtain more and better data about newborn galaxies than any other facility yet built.

But its haul of galactic “baby pictures” has proved more bountiful than most researchers dared to dream. Simply put, candidate galaxies in the early universe are popping up in numbers that defy predictions, with dozens found so far.

Explaining this excess may require substantial revisions to prevailing cosmological models, changes that could involve the first galaxies forming sooner, their stars shining brighter—or perhaps the nature of dark matter or dark energy being even more complex and mysterious than previously thought.
 
^^^ What a fascinating article...
If you invest the time to read it, you will not be disappointed...
What has been discovered caused the powers that be, to allocate emergency JWST scope time in December...
FASCINATING...
 
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It's Official: JWST Breaks Record For Most Distant Galaxy Ever Detected​

SPACE 12 December 2022 By MICHELLE STARR
www.sciencealert.com

It's Official: JWST Breaks Record For Most Distant Galaxy Ever Detected

Light that has traveled for over 13.4 billion years to reach our neighborhood of space has been confirmed as originating from the earliest, most distant galaxy detected yet.
www.sciencealert.com www.sciencealert.com

JWST-earliest-galaxy-642x260.jpg

The location of the most distant galaxy ever detected. (NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Zamani/ESA/Webb)​

Light that has traveled for over 13.4 billion years to reach our neighborhood of space has been confirmed as originating from the earliest, most distant galaxy detected yet.

That places the most distant of these four very young objects at the very dawn of the Universe, just a short time after the Big Bang – a time period when the Universe was still foggy and bleary and the first rays of light were penetrating the darkness.

So detailed are the JWST's long spectroscopic observations that researchers can not only measure the distance the light of these galaxies has traveled, but they can also infer some of the galaxies' properties.

"For the first time, we have discovered galaxies only 350 million years after the Big Bang, and we can be absolutely confident of their fantastic distances," says astronomer Brant Robertson from the University of California Santa Cruz.

"To find these early galaxies in such stunningly beautiful images is a special experience."

To be able to peer earlier into the Universe than we've ever seen before was one of the biggest hopes pinned on the JWST. Our understanding of the first billion years after the Big Bang is extremely limited, and finding earlier and earlier objects can help shed light on this crucial time of formation.

Diagram of region in space

The region of space examined, with blue, red, and green light representing specific wavelengths. (Zamani/ESA/Webb/NASA/CSA)

We have models that describe how events unfolded. We believe that, before the first stars were born, the Universe was filled with opaque matter; any light scattered off free electrons and was unable to stream freely.

These particles gradually combined to form neutral hydrogen; when the stars started to form, they ionized the hydrogen, and the light shone. This process was completed by about 1 billion years after the Universe popped into being.

The light from these objects is very faint, having traveled from so very far away. And, due to the expansion of the Universe, it's been significantly stretched into the longer, redder end of the spectrum, a phenomenon known as redshifting.

The JWST is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space, and it specializes in infrared and near-infrared light – designed for detecting this redshifted light, to the best of our ability.​
 
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