Face-on spiral galaxy, NGC 4535, is split diagonally in this image: The James Webb Space Telescope’s observations appear at bottom left, and the Hubble Space Telescope’s on top right. Webb and Hubble’s images show a striking contrast, an inverse of darkness and light. Why? Webb’s observations combine near- and mid-infrared light and Hubble’s showcase visible and ultraviolet light. Dust absorbs ultraviolet and visible light, and then re-emits it in the infrared. In Webb's images, we see dust glowing in infrared light. In Hubble’s images, dark regions are where starlight is absorbed by dust.
In Webb’s high-resolution infrared images, the gas and dust stand out in stark shades of orange and red, and show finer spiral shapes with the appearance of jagged edges, though these areas are still diffuse.
In Hubble’s images, the gas and dust show up as hazy dark brown lanes, following the same spiral shapes. Its images are about the same resolution as Webb’s, but the gas and dust obscure a lot of the smaller-scale star formation.
More information: webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/105/01HMC1WE...
Read the feature: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-depicts-stagger...
Full set of images: webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-1...
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team
Image description: Two observations of the galaxy NGC 4535 are split diagonally, with Webb’s observations at bottom left and Hubble’s at top right. The galaxy’s core is centered and connected by an almost vertical bar structure to the galaxy’s two prominent spiral arms, which appear to rotate clockwise. The bar and arms form an elongated S shape. In Webb’s image, the spiral arms are composed of many filaments in shades of orange, with prominent dark gray or black regions toward the center. In Hubble’s image, the spiral arms are a mix of bright blue star clusters and dark brown dust lanes, and the tiny core is bright white.
Tags: NGC 4535 hubble jwst webb james webb space telescope
Break out the chocolate and graham crackers, we’re headed to a “marshmallow” planet!
With its super puffy atmosphere, WASP-107 b is one of the least dense planets known. Based on its characteristics, this planet was thought to have a small, rocky core surrounded by a huge mass of hydrogen and helium. But how could its small core sweep up so much gas and not turn it to a Jupiter-mass planet? Or if its core was larger, why didn't its atmosphere contract to make the planet smaller?
New Webb data may have solved the mystery. For s‘more on this story: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-cracks-case-of-inflat...
Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
[Image Description: Graphic titled “Webb Solves a Marshmallow Planet Mystery,” featuring an illustration of an exoplanet with a hazy blue atmosphere and loose bands of clouds on the black background of space. The right three-quarters of the planet is lit by a star not shown in the illustration. The left quarter is in shadow. The terminator, the boundary between the day and night sides is gradual, not sharp. The planet is light blue with loose bands of white clouds. The edge of the planet has a subtle blue glow. Small white text in the top left corner reads “artist concept.”]
Tags: jwst webb james webb space telescope exoplanet WASP-17 b
Tiny star, big potential.
Webb studied the planet-forming disk around a star weighing one-tenth of our Sun, finding it to hold the largest number of carbon-containing molecules seen to date in such a disk. These molecules include the first detection of ethane outside of our solar system, as well as ethylene, propyne, and more.
Rocky planets are more likely than gas giants to form around low-mass stars, making the planet-forming disks of low-mass stars particularly interesting. Learn more about what these results tell us: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-finds-plethora-of-car...
This image: An artist’s impression of a young star surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study the disk around a young and very low-mass star known as ISO-ChaI 147. The results reveal the richest hydrocarbon chemistry seen to date in a protoplanetary disk.
The science team explored the region around ISO-ChaI 147, a very low-mass star of 0.11 solar masses. They found that the gas in the planet-forming region of the star is rich in carbon. This could mean that the building blocks for planets may lack carbon because all of the carbon-containing chemicals have evaporated and been lost into the surrounding gas. As a result, any rocky planets that form might be carbon-poor.
Image credit: Illustration: NASA-JPL
Image Description: A yellow star is at the center, surrounded by a mottled disk of gas and dust that transitions from bright yellow to darker orange moving outward. There is a gap between the inner disk and the star, with two curving streams of gas connecting the star and the disk. The wide disk stretches from about 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock and is tilted so that the nearer side is toward the viewer. A label at lower right says “artist’s concept.”
Tags: jwst webb james space telescope red dwarf planetary disk
Ring around the galaxy… Here’s Webb’s stunning new mid-infrared image of M104.
This bright core of the galaxy is dim in this view (the first slide), revealing a smooth inner disk as well as details of how the clumpy gas in the outer ring is distributed. Dust is one of the universe’s essential building blocks, and often where star formation is found in galaxies. Though this particular galaxy is not a particular hotbed of star formation, it does contain lots of stars for scientists to study, especially tight groupings called globular clusters.
Also known as the Sombrero galaxy, M104 looks a bit more hat-like in Hubble’s visible-light image, which showcases its prominent glowing core. (link to Hubble image)
Read more: go.nasa.gov/4eQ4key
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image description: Image of a galaxy on the black background of space. The galaxy is a very oblong, blue disk that extends from left to right at an angle (from about 10 o’clock to 5 o’clock). The galaxy has a small bright core at the center. There is an inner disk that is clearer, with speckles of stars scattered throughout. The outer disk of the galaxy is whiteish-blue, and clumpy, like clouds in the sky. There are different colored dots, distant galaxies, speckled among the black background of space surrounding the galaxy.
Tags: Sombrero Galaxy M104
Face-on barred spiral galaxy, NGC 1433.
In Webb’s high-resolution infrared images, the gas and dust stand out in stark shades of orange and red, and show finer spiral shapes with the appearance of jagged edges, though these areas are still diffuse.
More information: webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/105/01HM9YB3...
Read the feature: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-depicts-stagger...
Full set of images: webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-1...
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team
Image description: In Webb’s image, the spiral arms are composed of many filaments in shades of orange. Thin dust lanes connect from the core, through the bar to the spiral arms.
Tags: NGC 1433 webb jwst james webb space telescope