This image of the gas-giant exoplanet Epsilon Indi Ab was taken with the coronagraph on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). A star symbol marks the location of the host star Epsilon Indi A, whose light has been blocked by the coronagraph, resulting in the dark circle marked with a dashed white line … Read more
In March 2022, NASA passed 5,000 confirmed exoplanets. Tis data sonification allows us to hear the pace of the discovery of those worlds. In this animation, exoplanets are represented by musical notes played across decades of discovery. Circles show location and size of orbit, while their color indicates the detection method. Lower notes mean longer … Read more
6 Min Read NASA’s Webb Investigates Eternal Sunrises, Sunsets on Distant World Artists concept of WASP-39 b (full image below). Near-infrared spectral analysis of terminator confirms differences in morning and evening atmosphere Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have finally confirmed what models have previously predicted: An exoplanet has differences between its eternal morning … Read more
Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory through launch, Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument also revealed jets of gas flowing into space from the twin stars. Scientists recently got a big surprise from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope when they turned the observatory toward a group of young stars called WL 20. The region has been studied since … Read more
This graphic shows a three-dimensional map of stars near the Sun. These stars are close enough that they could be prime targets for direct imaging searches for planets using future telescopes. The blue haloes represent stars that have been observed with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. The yellow star at the center of … Read more
In a new study, this team explored the region around a very low-mass star known as ISO-ChaI 147, a 1 to 2 million-year-old star that weighs just 0.11 times as much as the Sun. The spectrum revealed by Webb’s MIRI shows the richest hydrocarbon chemistry seen to date in a protoplanetary disk – a total … Read more
The bad news for Star Trek fans comes from an instrument known as NEID, a recent addition to the complex of telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NEID, like other radial velocity instruments, relies on the “Doppler” effect: shifts in the light spectrum of a star that reveal its wobbling motions. In this case, parsing … Read more
The instructor, teaching assistant, and students from the online exoplanet research course meeting synchronously via Zoom. From left to right and top to bottom: Suber Corley, Molly Simon (instructor), Kimberly Merriam, Bradley Hutson, Elizabeth Catogni, Heather Hewitt (teaching assistant), Steve Marquez-Perez, Fred Noguer, Matthew Rice, Ty Perry, Mike Antares, Zachary Ruybal, Chris Kight, Kellan Reagan. … Read more
5 min read NASA’s Compact Infrared Cameras Enable New Science A new, higher-resolution infrared camera outfitted with a variety of lightweight filters could probe sunlight reflected off Earth’s upper atmosphere and surface, improve forest fire warnings, and reveal the molecular composition of other planets. The cameras use sensitive, high-resolution strained-layer superlattice sensors, initially developed at … Read more
Image: Warm Gas-Giant Exoplanet WASP-107 b (Artist’s Concept) The Problem with WASP-107 b A Wealth of Previously Undetectable Molecules Image:Warm Gas-Giant Exoplanet WASP-107 b Transmission Spectrum (Hubble WFC3, Webb NIRCam, and Webb MIRI Image:Warm Gas-Giant Exoplanet WASP-107 b (Transmission Spectrum: Webb NIRSpec) Roiling Gas, Hot Interior, and Massive Core Source link