Macrocosm

02/02/2023

🏆 Among stellar company!

For its significant contributions to science and discovery, the James Webb Space Telescope was selected for the 2022 Bloomberg Businessweek 50 – an annual unranked list of icons, leaders, and innovators.

More: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-webb-telescope-selected-for-bloomberg-businessweek-s-bloomberg-50

Image credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

02/02/2023

Webb’s holiday card sorted! 🎄

NGC 7469 is like a cosmic wreath bursting with new stars. This galaxy is very dusty, but Webb’s infrared vision can peer through to observe features like the intense ring of star formation close around its bright center. Read more: https://esawebb.org/images/potm2212a/

What are those large spikes? They’re not real objects, but diffraction spikes, an effect of very bright light interacting with the telescope mirrors. Here the center of the galaxy is extremely bright due to light emitted by heated dust and gas falling into the central black hole.

Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, A. S. Evans

02/02/2023

02/02/2023

Last July, the Webb telescope released its very first image: the deepest and sharpest image ever seen. Zooming in on the data, scientists found 3 young, distant galaxies similar to rare, small galaxies called “green peas” in our cosmic backyard. Because the light has traveled so far to get to us, we’re seeing these 3 galaxies as they were up to 13.1 billion years ago.

Specifically, the galactic trio share chemical characteristics — oxygen, hydrogen, and neon signatures — with “green pea” galaxies. (“Green peas” resembled green dots in their discovery images.) Due to their similarities, researchers may be able to study nearby “green peas” in detail to learn more about distant early galaxies.

While Webb’s infrared vision is incredibly sensitive, in this case Webb had some help from space’s “magnifying glass.” The effect of gravitational lensing meant that the mass of the galaxy cluster in Webb’s image actually magnified these tiny, distant galaxies by up to 10 times.

The farthest of the 3 galaxies contains only 2% the oxygen found in a galaxy like ours. This suggests the galaxy is extremely young, as it contains very few heavy elements (like oxygen) recycled from earlier stars. Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/3vPXDVV

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

02/02/2023

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)

02/02/2023

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)

02/02/2023

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

02/02/2023

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

02/02/2023

02/02/2023

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