Telescopes

The Pillars of Creation seen by James Webb Space Telescope (Image NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI))

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The so-called Pillars of Creation have been portrayed in some of the iconic images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Now the James Webb Space Telescope obtained even more detailed views of that star-forming area that is part of the Eagle Nebula. Webb’s infrared sensitivity can see even inside dust clouds where there are newborn stars and areas where stars are forming. That hasn’t only made it possible to obtain even more spectacular photos but also to provide a lot of new information useful to improve the models concerning star formation.

The GRB221009A gamma-ray burst observed by Swift (Image NASA/Swift/A. Beardmore (University of Leicester)

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A record-breaking gamma-ray burst was observed thanks to a series of space and ground-based telescopes on October 9, 2022. The fast global alert system existing among astronomical organizations made it possible to use several instruments to detect the event and its consequences over the next few days. Cataloged as GRB221009A, it’s already been called the gamma-ray burst of the century because it was very powerful even by the standards of these extremely energetic events. It may have been caused by a supernova that gave birth to a black hole but studies of the information collected have just begun.

WR 140, its companion, and the rings around them (Image NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JPL-Caltech)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the observation of 17 dust rings around WR 140, a so-called Wolf-Rayet star that has a very young and massive companion. A team of researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI instrument to study the area around this pair of stars, obtaining results far superior to those of other instruments, which had only identified two rings. According to the researchers, the rings are generated when the two stars get closer and their stellar winds interact violently causing the gas to compress, as it also contains elements heavier than hydrogen and allows it to form dust.

Artist's concept of a 5-Exoplanet system (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech))

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the confirmation of the presence of 5 rocky planets in the HD 23472 star system. A team of researchers used the Espresso spectrograph on ESO’s VLT to examine these exoplanets to estimate their masses using the radial velocity method. Their sizes were already known thanks to the data collected by NASA’s TESS space telescope, which observed their transit in front of their star. The result of the examination is that three of those exoplanets are super-Earths and two are probably super-Mercuries, rare cases characterized by a larger iron core and in general a high percentage of iron.

Neptune, its rings and some of its moons as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope (Image NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI))

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Images of Neptune captured by the James Webb Space Telescope show details of the planet and its rings with a clarity comparable only to those taken in 1989 by NASA’s Voyager 2 space probe during a planet flyby. The observations made it possible to capture details of many storms existing in Neptune’s atmosphere, including the Great Dark Spot. Webb also photographed Triton and six of the smaller moons.