James Webb Space Telescope

[Locke]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Be pretty lame if we got there and just wound up with a banana peel tho

Damn you! That was brilliant!

[KootenayFlamesFan]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1691031418594365440

[Nyah]

Here's another one of the Ring Nebula that they released yesterday. The detail is amazing!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1693625978654777552

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Released today. M51 Whirlpool Galaxy.

Spoiler!

Link to other versions and downloads.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawe...7720305127361/

[Snuffleupagus]

Planet in ‘habitable’ zone could have rare oceans and a possible sign of life, Webb data reveals.

Waters may be flowing on the surface of a colossal planet that lies about 120 light-years from Earth, according to new evidence uncovered by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The investigation with the space-based observatory, one of the most advanced astronomy instruments in operation, revealed that the exoplanet K2-18b may have some key features of a planet that could support bodies of water — and life.

The latest observations of the planet also hint that a very special molecule, called dimethyl sulfide, could be present on K2-18b.

On Earth, dimethyl sulfide “is only produced by life,” according to NASA. “The bulk of the DMS in Earth’s atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in marine environments.”

https://www.albanyherald.com/news/pl...d20b674be.html

[Shazam]

Think they'd be into anal probing? Asking for a friend.

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Planet in ‘habitable’ zone could have rare oceans and a possible sign of life, Webb data reveals.


https://www.albanyherald.com/news/pl...d20b674be.html

See I find this way more interesting than the cool photos. I wonder what else we can learn about this planet from observation. Hopefully, we can find a few more planets that look like they have liquid water, and then focus resources on learning what we can about those planets. I know proof of life would be very difficult, but it would be amazing if we could prove extra-terrestrial life in my lifetime.

I'd also like to see more resources aimed at looking for evidence of past life in our solar system. From what I can tell, there is a lot of evidence to show Earth had single-cellular life pretty early on. So if Mars once had oceans, wouldn't it make sense that they would have at least had the same at some point?

[Snuffleupagus]

New images from the James Webb Space Telescope revealing unprecedented details and unexpected discoveries of surprising pairs of planet-like objects in the Orion Nebula.

Webb image shows the full survey of the inner Orion Nebula and Trapezium Cluster, captured in long wavelengths of light.


When astronomers Samuel G. Pearson and Mark J. McCaughrean studied the short-wavelength image of the Orion Nebula, they zoomed in on the Trapezium Cluster, a young star-forming region that’s about 1 million years old, filled to the brim with thousands of new stars. In addition to the stars, the scientists spotted brown dwarfs, which are too small to kick-start the nuclear fusion at their cores to become stars. Brown dwarfs have a mass that is below 7% the mass of the sun.

On the hunt for other low-mass isolated objects, the astronomers found something they had never seen: pairs of planet-like objects with masses between 0.6 and 13 times the mass of Jupiter that appear to defy some fundamental astronomical theories.


The scientists dubbed them Jupiter Mass Binary Objects, or JuMBOs.

Five JuMBOs can be seen in this image, which zoomed in on the finer details of the larger Webb portrait of the Trapezium Cluster in the Orion Nebula.


The objects’ temperatures range from 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (537 degrees Celsius) to 2,300 F (1,260 C), Pearson said. The gaseous objects are young, astronomically speaking — about 1 million years old. Our solar system, in comparison, is 4.57 billion years old.

“We are halfway through the life of the sun, so these objects in Orion are 3-day-old babies,” said McCaughrean

“While the objects we are looking at are really faint, they are brightest in the infrared, so that (is) where you have the best chance of detecting them,” Pearson said via email. “JWST is the most powerful infrared telescope that has ever been built and these observations simply wouldn’t be possible with any other telescope.”

Observations of the nebula scheduled for early 2024 could provide more insight into the atmospheric compositions of the JuMBOs, Pearson said. The researchers also want to uncover more details about the objects, including making precise measurements of their masses.

Meanwhile, other research focused on different star-forming regions could reveal whether JuMBOs are elsewhere beyond the Orion Nebula.

“The main question is, ‘What?! Where did that come from?’” Pearson said. “It’s just so unexpected that a lot of future observations and modelling are going to be needed to explain it.”

Unprecedented discovery

[Cecil Terwilliger]

New image from last week.

Crab Nebula

Spoiler!

Link to explanation and full res image.

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/m...PEGB8DXVVEP8XA

[Cecil Terwilliger]

The M83 spiral galaxy released on Halloween.

This month, Webb presents a spectacular treat… for the eyes. The barred spiral galaxy M83 is revealed in detail by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. M83, which is also known as NGC 5236, was observed by Webb as part of a series of observations collectively titled Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers, or FEAST. Another target of the FEAST observations, M51, was the subject of a previous Webb Picture of the Month. As with all six galaxies that comprise the FEAST sample, M83 and M51 were observed with both NIRCam and MIRI, two of the four instruments that are mounted on Webb.

A close-up view of a barred spiral galaxy. Two spiral arms reach horizontally away from the core in the centre, merging into a broad network of gas and dust which fills the image. This material glows brightest orange along the path of the arms, and is darker red across the rest of the galaxy. Through many gaps in the dust, countless tiny stars can be seen, most densely around the core.

Spoiler!

https://esawebb.org/images/potm2310a/

[MoneyGuy]

My favourite podcast, Everything Everywhere Daily, has an episode on the James Webb.