2022

The Orion Nebula's inner region seen by the James Webb Space Telescope (Image courtesy NASA, ESA, CSA, PDRs4All ERS Team; image processing Salomé Fuenmayor)

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New images of the Orion Nebula’s inner region captured by the James Webb Space Telescope show new details of a stellar nursery that has already been studied many over time but continues to reveal new objects every time a new instrument is used to study it. These observations were conducted as part of Webb’s Early Release Science (ERS) program and obtained on September 11, so at the moment, no scientific articles are available on the subject yet but in the future, we can expect an analysis of the collected data and some new discoveries about the processes of star and planet formation.

The Sun as seen by the Solar Orbiter space probe on March 25, 2022

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” offers a solution to the mystery of the local magnetic field inversion in the solar atmosphere, called switchback in jargon, observed in recent decades. A team of researchers with an important participation from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics used detection conducted with the Solar Orbiter space probe’s METIS instrument to test the theories produced over the years.

The cluster NGC 346 seen by Hubble (Image NASA, ESA, A. James (STScI))

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Two articles published in “The Astrophysical Journal” report different aspects of a study on NGC 346, an open cluster of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the satellite dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way. Two teams of researchers who share their respective leaders, Elena Sabbi of the Space Telescope Science Institute and Peter Zeidler of the AURA/STScI for ESA, used observations conducted with the Hubble Space Telescope and the VLT. They examined the spiraling motion of the cluster’s stars within it, a motion that appears to favor star formation.

A comparison between the LP 890-9 system and the inner solar system with the characteristics of the stars and their rocky planets

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the identification of two super-Earths in the system of LP 890-9, a star that is tiny even by red dwarf standards. A team of researchers led by astrophysicist Laetitia Delrez of the Belgian University of Liège examined a candidate identified by the TESS space telescope using the SPECULOOS project Southern Observatory to monitor that system confirming the existence of the exoplanet cataloged LP 890-9b. SPECULOOS found a second exoplanet by observing further transits which was cataloged as LP 890-9c and is in ​its system’s habitable zone. Only TRAPPIST-1 is a smaller star than LP 890-9 among the ones known to have planets.

Artist's concept of various stars with their size in scale and the color we see today

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An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports a study on the history of Betelgeuse observations which concludes that 2,000 years ago this star was yellow in color and not red. A team of researchers led by Professor Ralph Neuhäuser of the German University of Jena examined ancient astronomical documents that report observations conducted in various parts of the world where Betelgeuse is described in a very different way from how it appears today. The conclusion is that it has only recently entered its red giant phase in astronomical terms. Reconstructing this star’s history offers information on its evolution that helps to predict its future changes.