Tag Archives: JWST

The Galaxy Potentially Discovered by JWST Might Be the Earliest We’ve Ever Observed

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A potentially newly discovered galaxy from the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA, ESA, CSA, CEERS, G. Gandolfi

Astronomers might have found galaxies that formed very early in the universe, approximately 200 million years apart from their closest counterparts, but they caution that alternative explanations could exist.

Giovanni Gandolfi from the University of Padua, along with his team, examined data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in search of distant cosmic formations from the universe’s 13.8 billion-year timeline.

The greater the distance of a galaxy from Earth, the longer it takes for its light to reach us, and it will be redshifted due to the universe’s expansion.

Until now, the earliest confirmed galaxy identified by JWST, named Mom-Z14, has a redshift of 14.4, indicating that it has been moving toward us since the universe was just 280 million years old. Gandolfi and his colleagues, however, have reported finding 32 intriguing objects with redshifts, placing them at a time when the universe was merely 90 million years old. They have named this discovery Capotauro after the Italian mountains.

“Capotauro could represent the most distant galaxy we’ve encountered,” states Gandolfi.

The team derived their conclusion from observing minor fluctuations in a deep JWST survey of the sky that resemble a distant galaxy. By utilizing various filters on the telescope, they were able to determine the redshift of the light emitted by the galaxy, arriving at a count of 32.

If validated, this object might represent a very young galaxy in formation, or potentially a primitive black hole enveloped by a dense atmosphere.

Nonetheless, this presumed galaxy appears uncommonly bright, akin to those observed in later redshift instances like Mom-Z14, suggesting it has a mass approximating a billion times that of the Sun.

For a galaxy to reach such mass, its efficiency in converting gas into stars must be near 100%, according to Nicha Reese Chawarit from the National Institute of Astronomy in Thailand, indicating that the stars cannot explode. Modelling, however, suggests that achieving 10-20% or even lower is plausible. “I believe there’s something amiss,” she remarks.

If this is not a galaxy, Gandolfi and his team propose that the object could alternatively be a brown dwarf (a star that didn’t ignite). These alternative theories are also compelling, Gandolfi notes, particularly if it is a cold brown dwarf or distant planet, possibly 6000 light years away and at room temperature.

“It could represent one of the first substellar objects ever formed in our galaxy,” adds Gandolfi.

To confirm this, the team requires additional observing time on the JWST to precisely analyze the light from the object. Leethochawalit supports the notion that it may not be a galaxy but also states that such follow-up research could still be worthwhile.

“If it turns out to be a galaxy with a redshift of 32, then a lot of our previous assumptions might be entirely wrong,” she states.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

JWST Examines Interstellar Comet 3i/Atlas in Detail

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Infrared images of 3I/Atlas taken by the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA/James Webb Space Telescope

3I/Atlas, an interstellar visitor, is noted for being one of the most carbon-rich comets observed, suggesting a formation in an environment vastly different from our solar system.

Since July, astronomers have been monitoring 3I/Atlas. While many findings indicate it resembles typical comets, several peculiar features hint at a more exotic origin, including the emission of water gas at distances from the sun typically unobserved in solar system comets.

Martin Codinner from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, along with his team, has utilized the James Webb Space Telescope to capture some of the most intricate observations of the comet.

Codinner’s team studied 3I/Atlas in early August, when they were approximately three times the distance from the sun compared to typical comets. At this distance, temperatures rise enough for water to transition from ice to gas, resulting in comets usually generating water vapor and dust, known as a coma.

However, their findings revealed that the coma of 3I/Atlas contains a significantly higher amount of carbon dioxide relative to water, with an 8:1 ratio. This is 16 times more than what is generally seen in other comets from our solar system at this distance from the Sun.

High carbon dioxide levels could imply that comets formed in planetary systems where carbon dioxide ice is more prevalent than water ice, suggests Matthew Genge from Imperial College London. “This may indicate a fundamental difference in planetary system formation compared to ours,” Genge adds.

When planetary systems initially form, there are differing quantities of dust, gas, and water vapor found at varying distances from stars. Over time, stars expel gas, leaving behind solid materials. If the progenitor star of 3I/Atlas expelled water vapor from locations where comets developed earlier than in our solar system, it could account for its unique composition, Genge articulates.

The scarcity of water vapor may also be attributed to previous close encounters with other stars, Genge notes. Codinner offers that water could be concealed deep within the comet’s crust, thus insulated from higher temperatures, which is indeed unusual.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

JWST finds a solitary world challenging the distinction between star and planet

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Star cluster NGC 1333 contains many brown dwarfs

NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/NOAO/DSS

Astronomers have discovered six new worlds that look like planets but formed like stars. These so-called “rogue worlds” are between five and 15 times the mass of Jupiter, and one of them may even host the beginnings of a miniature solar system.

Ray Jayawardene Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a researcher from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and his colleagues discovered these strange worlds in the NGC 1333 star cluster. Despite being planet-sized, none of these worlds orbit a star. This indicates that they likely formed by the collapse of a cloud of dust and gas, similar to how stars like our Sun are born. These objects that form like stars but are not massive enough to sustain the fusion of hydrogen are called brown dwarfs, or failed stars.

“In some ways, the most shocking thing is what we didn't find,” Jayawardene says. “Even though we had the sensitivity to do so, we couldn't find anything with a mass less than five times that of Jupiter.” This may indicate that brown dwarfs can't form at lower masses — that is, they are the smallest objects that can form like stars.

From their observations, the researchers found that about 10 percent of the objects in NGC 1333 are made up of brown dwarfs — a much higher number than expected based on star formation models — and that additional processes, such as turbulence, may be driving the formation of these nomadic planets.

One of the brown dwarfs is particularly unusual, with a ring of dust around it similar to the ones that formed the planets in our solar system. At about five times the mass of Jupiter, it's the smallest planet with such a ring ever found and may mark the beginning of a strange, shrunken planetary system around a dysfunctional star.

“From the miniature world around these objects, [brown dwarf] “It will glow mostly in the infrared, with a very reddish glow, and over hundreds of millions of years it will gradually fade away and become invisible,” Jayawardene says. As the brown dwarf fades, any planets that form around it will freeze out completely, darkening the entire system and making it a less than promising world for searching for life.

Journal References: Astronomical Journal, Printing

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New JWST images confirm accuracy of theories on young star formation

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Serpens Nebula: A row of jets appears as red streaks in the upper left corner

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel Green (STScI)

Astronomers have captured a star alignment: New images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show jets emanating from a young star lining up in a straight line, finally proving a phenomenon that has long been suspected but never before been observed.

As a giant gas cloud collapses and begins to form stars, its rotation accelerates — similar to how an ice skater pulls their arms in closer to their body to spin faster. This rotation causes a disk of dust and gas to form around the young star at the cloud's center, feeding the cloud itself.

Strong magnetic fields in the disk send jets of material along the star's rotation axis, which can be used to measure the young star's rotation direction. The JWST image of the Serpens Nebula, about 1,400 light-years away, shows 12 baby stellar clumps. All the jets are pointing in roughly the same direction..

“Astronomers have long assumed that when clouds collapse and stars form, the stars tend to rotate in the same direction,” he said. Klaus Pontoppidan At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California statement“But we've never seen it so directly before.”

The new observations suggest that these stars all inherit their rotation from the same long string of gas. Over time, this rotation may change as the stars interact with each other and other space objects. This is evident from the fact that another group of younger, possibly older, stars in the same image of the Ophiuchus Nebula do not have aligned jets.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Amazing Discovery: JWST Uncovers Abundance of Supernovae in Early Universe

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Many of the circled objects represent previously unknown supernovae.

Collaboration between NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and JADES

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered a surprising number of supernovae in the distant universe, including some of the most distant yet seen. Their discoveries increase the number of known supernovae in the early universe by a factor of ten.

The researchers imaged the same small patch of sky twice, in 2022 and 2023, and found 79 new supernovae. “It’s actually very small, about the size of a grain of rice held at arm’s length,” the researchers said. Christa DeCourcy “We’ve spent more than 100 hours on JWST,” said Dr. [observing] I took my time with each image, which gives them a lot of depth.”

Astronomers then compared the two images with each other and with previous photos of the same area taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, looking for bright spots that appear in one image but not the other.

These specks are relatively faint stars that shone brightly before fading in bright supernova explosions. Some of them are candidates for the most distant supernovae ever found, although their distances have yet to be confirmed. And one of them is definitely the most distant one ever seen. This star exploded when the universe was only about 1.8 billion years old.

Such supernovae would have produced the heavy elements that are now widespread throughout the universe, so they would have had lower concentrations of these elements than modern supernovae. “The universe at this early stage was fundamentally different from what has been explored in the past by the Hubble Space Telescope and especially ground-based surveys,” he said. Justin Pierre “This is really new territory that JWST is breaking into,” he said during a presentation at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, where observations could help shed light on what the first stars were like.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

JWST Captures Spectacular Image of Uranus Revealing 13 Rings and 9 Moons

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Uranus showing all its rings and 9 of the planet’s 27 moons

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

This amazing shot of Uranus taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) gives us the most complete view of Uranus yet, revealing its rings and turbulent atmosphere in stunning detail .

In April, JWST used infrared sensors to image Uranus, revealing more of the ice giant’s rock and dust rings, which have only been directly imaged twice before, by the Voyager 2 spacecraft and by Earth’s Keck Observatory. Now it can be observed clearly. Eleven of Uranus’s 13 known rings were visible in this image, but the last two were too dark to see.

JWST has now followed up on these observations using a wider field of view and more wavelengths of infrared light, revealing the rings in even more detail and showing us the elusive final two rings.

The diagram above also shows nine of Uranus’ 27 moons. These are all tilted away from the Sun at her 98 degree angle, the same as the planet itself. Another new image from JWST below shows five more moons (Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, Miranda, and Titania) shining like blue stars, bringing the total shown to 14.

This JWST photo of Uranus shows five more moons, shining like blue stars around the planet. They are (clockwise from top) Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, Miranda, and Titania.

STScI Copyright: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The planet’s tilt causes long stretches of sunlight and darkness on different sides of Uranus, with each season lasting 21 Earth years and producing polar caps and atmospheric storms. Both can be seen more clearly in this picture. The storm lies just below the southern edge of the broad white polar cap, appearing as a white wisp against a blue background.

Although it takes Uranus 84 years to orbit the Sun, it only takes 17 hours to complete its rotation, allowing its atmosphere and moons to travel faster than standard telescopic exposures. Astronomers created the image above by combining long and short exposure times with JWST to smooth out the changing features.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

12 Billion Years Ago, JWST Uncovers Secrets of Star-Forming Galaxies

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Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers discover that most early galaxies from about 12 billion years ago had more glowing gas than stars due to interactions with neighboring galaxies. I was able to.

This groundbreaking result provides new insights into the evolution of galaxies and the early Universe, and highlights the transformative impact of JWST on astrophysics.

New images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have helped Australian astronomers uncover the secrets of how infant galaxies began a burst of star formation in the very early universe .Some early galaxies were rich in gas that shined brighter than emerging stars. In a new study, astronomers have discovered just how prevalent these bright galaxies were about 12 billion years ago. Images from JWST show that nearly 90% of galaxies in the early Universe had this glowing gas, creating so-called “extreme emission line features. An image of a distant polar emission galaxy. Observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (left) and the Hubble Space Telescope (right). This comparison highlights the sharpness of the JWST images. Credit: ARC Center of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D)

“The stars in these young galaxies were amazing, producing enough radiation to excite the gas around them. This gas, in turn, shined even brighter than the stars themselves.” said Dr. Anshu Gupta, Curtin University Node of the ARC Center for Three-Dimensional All-Sky Astrophysics (ASTRO 3D) and the International Radio Astronomy Research Center.Iqral), lead author of the paper describing this finding. “Until now, it has been difficult to understand how these galaxies are able to accumulate so much gas. Our discovery suggests that each of these galaxies had at least one neighboring galaxy. This suggests that interactions between these galaxies cool the gas and trigger intense star formation episodes, resulting in this extreme luminescence property.” Progress in observing galaxies in the early universe

This discovery is an example of the unparalleled clarity the JWST telescope provides in studying the early universe.

“The quality of data from the James Webb Telescope is exceptional,” says Dr. Gupta. “It has the depth and resolution necessary to observe the surroundings and neighboring galaxies of early galaxies, when the universe was just 2 billion years old. We were able to confirm that there are significant differences in the number of neighboring galaxies among galaxies that do not.”

The target galaxy observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (left) and the Hubble Space Telescope (right). The unprecedented resolution and sharpness of the JWST images allowed us to identify neighboring galaxies (cyan circles) that were not even visible to Hubble. Credit: ARC Center of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D

Until now, we’ve struggled to get clear images of galaxies whose universe is about 2 billion years old. Since many stars had not yet formed, there were far fewer galaxies to focus on, making the task even more difficult.“Before JWST, we could only get pictures of really huge galaxies, most of which were in very dense galaxy clusters, making them difficult to study,” says Dr. Gupta. “With the technology available at the time, it was not possible to observe 95% of the galaxies used in this study. His Webb telescope revolutionized our research.

An image of a distant polar emission galaxy. Observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (left) and the Hubble Space Telescope (right). This comparison highlights the sharpness of the JWST images. Credit: ARC Center of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D)

Checking previous assumptions
The discovery proved an earlier assumption, said fellow author Tran, associate director of ASTRO 3D and the Harvard University and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “We suspected that these extreme galaxies were signposts of intense interactions in the early universe, but only with JWST’s keen eye could we confirm our hunch.” she says.

The study is based on data obtained as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragacular Survey (JADES) survey, which uses deep infrared imaging and multi-object spectroscopy to explore the universe for the earliest galaxies. It paves the way for further insights. “What’s really interesting about this study is that we see similarities in emission lines between the first galaxies and galaxies that formed more recently and are easier to measure. It means we now have more ways to answer difficult questions about the early Universe,” said second author Ravi Jaiswal, PhD student at Curtin University/ICRAR and ASTRO 3D.

“This research is at the heart of the work of our Galaxy Evolution Programme. Understanding what earlier galaxies looked like will help us answer questions about the origins of the elements that make up all of our daily life on Earth. We can,” said Professor Emma Ryan-Weber, ASTRO 3D Director.

Reference: “MOSEL study: JWST reveals massive mergers/strong interactions in the early universe driving extreme emission lines” Anshu Gupta, Ravi Jaiswar, Vicente Rodriguez-Gomez, Ben Forrest, Kim -Vy Tran, Themiya Nanayakkara, Anishya Harshan, Elisabete Da Cunha, Glenn G. Kapsack, Michaela Harshman, of astrophysical journal.

DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2311.02158

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