NASA Recaps Webb Telescope Findings From AAS Meeting
Scientists shared new findings and updates from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, also called “Webb” or “JWST,” at press conferences during the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, from Jan. 8 to 12. Scientists from NASA and universities shared Webb results from multiple different scientific disciplines,…
James Webb Telescope Reveals Milky Way-like Galaxies in Young Universe
New images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal for the first time galaxies with stellar bars — elongated features of stars stretching from the centers of galaxies into their outer disks — at a time when the universe was a mere 25% of its present age. The finding…
NASA Gets Unusually Close Glimpse of Black Hole Snacking on Star
Multiple NASA telescopes recently observed a massive black hole tearing apart an unlucky star that wandered too close. Located about 250 million light-years from Earth in the center of another galaxy, it was the fifth-closest example of a black hole destroying a star ever observed. A disk of hot gas…
ESPRESSO and CARMENES discover two potentially habitable exo-Earths around a star near the Sun
An international scientific team led by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has discovered the presence of two planets with Earth-like masses in orbit around the star GJ 1002, a red dwarf not far from the Solar System. Both planets are in the habitability zone of the…
NASA’s Webb Reveals an Exoplanet Atmosphere as Never Seen Before
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope just scored another first: a molecular and chemical profile of a distant world’s skies. While Webb and other space telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer, previously have revealed isolated ingredients of this broiling planet’s atmosphere, the new readings from Webb provide a full menu of…
NASA’s Webb Catches Fiery Hourglass as New Star Forms
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed the once-hidden features of the protostar within the dark cloud L1527, providing insight into the beginnings of a new star. These blazing clouds within the Taurus star-forming region are only visible in infrared light, making it an ideal target for Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera…
Solar Orbiter’s unprecedented view of the quiet corona
Versão portuguesa disponível aqui The ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission has experienced its second close encounter with the Sun. It is delivering more stunning data, and at higher resolution than ever before. The moment of closest approach took place on 12 October at 19:12 UTC, when Solar Orbiter was just 29%…
NASA Confirms DART Mission Impact Changed Asteroid’s Motion in Space
Versão portuguesa disponível aqui Analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) investigation team shows the spacecraft's kinetic impact with its target asteroid, Dimorphos, successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit. This marks humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object…
Cat’s Eye Nebula seen in 3D
Versão portuguesa disponível aqui Researchers have created the first computer-generated three-dimensional model of the Cat's Eye Nebula, revealing a pair of symmetric rings encircling the nebula’s outer shell. The rings’ symmetry suggests they were formed by a precessing jet, providing strong evidence for a binary star at the centre of…
Webb takes its first exoplanet image
Versão portuguesa disponível aqui For the first time, astronomers have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of an exoplanet. The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and could not be habitable. The image, as seen through four different light filters,…
