Latest news with #WebbTelescope
Engadget
25-06-2025
- Science
- Engadget
NASA'S James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first direct image of an exoplanet
NASA'S James Webb Space Telescope has captured direct images of a planet outside of our solar system, which is the first time it has accomplished such a feat. This is a very big deal because exoplanets don't put out much light, so researchers typically discover new planets through indirect methods like keeping track of shadows as they pass across a host star. Webb, however, didn't have to do all that. It has directly captured images of a planet called TWA 7 b . Scientists believe the planet is around the mass of Saturn and is located 100 light years away from Earth. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. — NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) June 25, 2025 The planet is much further away from its star than Earth, so it has a wider orbital period that lasts several hundred years. The planetary system is thought to be around 6 million years old, so we are really getting a snapshot into the early stages of its development. Our sun is considered to be middle-aged and is around 4.6 billion years old. TWA 7 b is ten times smaller than any previous exoplanet to be directly observed with a telescope, according to The Guardian . Typically, planets of this size can't be seen by telescopes, as the light from the host star masks direct observation. The research team, led by Dr. Anne-Marie Lagrange, got around this by making a telescopic attachment that mimicked the results of a solar eclipse. This reduced much of the light emanating from the star to make it easier to observe surrounding objects. The process allowed the team to spot the planet, which appears as a bright source of light with a narrow ring of debris. Lagrange and her team do note that there's still a "very small chance" the images show a background galaxy, but the evidence "strongly points" to the source being a previously undiscovered planet. The first exoplanet was first discovered in 1992. Since that time, nearly 6,000 more have been spotted. Again, the vast majority of these have not been captured with direct imaging. This is just the latest stunning discovery by our good friend James Webb. It recently captured a cosmic phenomenon called an "Einstein Ring," which is when light from one galaxy is bent around the mass of another. Last year, the telescope found the most distant galaxy ever observed . If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
News18
23-06-2025
- Science
- News18
Are We Living Inside A Black Hole? NASA's Webb Telescope May Have Spotted The Evidence
Last Updated: NASA's Webb Telescope found early galaxies rotating in the same direction, reigniting theories that our universe may exist within a black hole. Further study is under way What if everything you've ever known – stars, galaxies, even your morning coffee – exists inside a cosmic Matryoshka doll? A mind-bending new discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has scientists revisiting one of the most radical ideas in physics: that our entire universe may be tucked inside a giant black hole. Is Our Universe Inside A Black Hole? A recent discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is challenging long-held assumptions about the origins of the cosmos. The telescope has observed hundreds of ancient galaxies, some dating back merely 300 million years after the Big Bang, and found that a significant number appear to be rotating in the same direction. Roughly 60% of these early galaxies rotate clockwise, an alignment that defies the expectation of random motion in a universe born from a chaotic explosion. Such uniformity has led researchers to propose that a hidden structure or force may have been present at the universe's inception, potentially reshaping our understanding of cosmology. This unexpected consistency in rotation patterns brings into question key aspects of the Big Bang theory, which posits that galaxies should have developed with random orientations as matter dispersed haphazardly. Instead, the data suggest an organising influence, possibly the rotation of an enormous black hole encompassing our universe. The idea that our universe could reside within a black hole is not new, but the JWST's findings have breathed new life into the theory. These early galaxies, spotted in a region known as Pandora's Cluster, may have played a role in a major cosmic transformation. Cosmic Fog And Ionised Gas During the universe's first billion years, it was enveloped in a dense fog of neutral hydrogen gas. Today, that fog has cleared, with the gas now ionised; meaning its electrons have been stripped away. Some researchers argue that this transition supports a bold theory: that our entire universe could be the interior of a colossal black hole, one nested within a larger universe. In such a scenario, a black hole could serve not just as a gravitational trap, but as a bridge to a completely separate cosmos. Why is this once-speculative theory gaining serious attention now? Groundbreaking observations by the James Webb Space Telescope have revived interest by revealing patterns of galactic rotation that suggest a hidden organising force. If such a rotational influence existed from the very beginning, it may have stemmed from the spin of a supermassive black hole encompassing the universe itself. This idea could potentially resolve enduring puzzles in cosmology, such as the nature of space-time, the universe's unusually flat geometry, and the precise tuning of the conditions required for its formation. Still, not all scientists are convinced. Some suggest the findings could result from observational bias or technical limitations, such as redshift or the Doppler effect, rather than an actual pattern. The JWST team itself has emphasised that the results are preliminary and more detailed observations are required. Researchers are now working to determine whether this directional rotation can be observed in galaxies elsewhere. Should similar patterns be found, it could signal that our universe's beginnings were shaped not by chance, but by a deeper, hidden order. First Published:
India Today
04-06-2025
- General
- India Today
James Webb Telescope clicks pictures of a galaxy with 800 billion Suns
James Webb Telescope clicks picture of a galaxy with 800 billion Suns 04 Jun, 2025 Credit: Nasa NASA's Webb Telescope captured a near-infrared image of the Sombrero galaxy, highlighting its bright central bulge while revealing less of the dust disk due to infrared light's ability to pass through dust. Observing the galaxy in visible (Hubble), near-IR, and mid-IR (Webb) helps astronomers study how stars, dust, and gas interact and evolve over time. The mid-infrared image shows the galaxy's dust glowing, while in near-infrared, stars shine through more clearly, making the dust less pronounced. Located 30 million light-years away, the Sombrero galaxy is seen nearly edge-on and has a mass equivalent to about 800 billion Suns. Variations in the chemical makeup of its 2,000+ globular clusters suggest the galaxy may have merged with another galaxy in the past. A noticeable warp in the inner disk, visible due to our slightly tilted viewing angle, supports the idea of a past galactic merger. Webb's powerful resolution reveals red giant stars and a colorful array of distant background galaxies, offering more clues about stellar evolution and cosmic structure.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Astronomers thought they found signs of life on distant planet. New studies are skeptical
Back in April, the world became captivated by the news that maybe, just maybe, we weren't alone in the universe after all. If extraterrestrials were to exist on a distant exoplanet as a team of astronomers theorized, it wouldn't exactly be intelligent life, but – hey – it was something. The explosive findings came from a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge who studied data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to find molecules in the atmosphere of a planet known as K2-18b that could have been created by organisms akin to marine algae. But then along came other independent astronomers who took their own look at the data and came to their own highly skeptical conclusions. A series of studies since the April 17 announcement have cast doubt on the sensational claim that what the initial researchers had found was "the strongest evidence yet" that life exists anywhere else besides Earth. "The data we have so far is much too noisy for the proof that would be needed to make that claim,' Rafael Luque, an astronomer at the University of Chicago, who led the most recent study, said in a statement. 'There's just not enough certainty to say one way or the other.' Here's everything to know about K2-18b, and just what potential it has to harbor alien life. K2-18b, which orbits a red dwarf star more than 120 light-years from Earth, has for years intrigued astronomers who believe it could be among the best places to search for signs of extraterrestrial life. The cosmic body is an exoplanet, meaning it orbits a star outside of Earth's own solar system. First discovered in 2015 during NASA's planet-hunting K2 mission, K2-18b likely orbits its star in what astronomers refer to as the "habitable zone" – where conditions could allow for water. In a nod to the classic fairy tale, astronomers even refer to these regions as "Goldilocks" zones because conditions have to be just right – neither too hot nor too cold – for water to remain in liquid form and pool on planetary surfaces. Interestingly, K2-18b, which is 8.6 times bigger than Earth, isn't rocky like our planet. Rather, observations have allowed scientists to conclude that the exoplanet could be a Hycean world covered by ocean water underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Could alien life thrive on K2-18b? What to know about the distant exoplanet The latest findings on K2-18b came from a team of researchers led by Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge in England. Because the planet is too far and too faint to observe directly with ground telescopes, astronomers had to get creative. In this case, the team studied data from the Webb Telescope gathered from observing K2-18b as the planet crossed in front of its star, causing starlight to filter through the planet's atmosphere. As the light passed through the planet's atmosphere, different amounts of light were blocked at different wavelengths, depending on what molecules are present. That's what led Madhusudhan and his team to detect hints of sulfur-based gases dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) in the atmosphere – both molecules from the same chemical family. On Earth, the gases are only produced by life, primarily microbial life such as marine algae like phytoplankton, according to the researchers. Since then, at least three different studies have largely dismissed the notion that any compelling evidence has been found to yet suggest life exists on K2-18b. In the most recent study led by Luque, researchers reviewed data from multiple observations of the planet. After combining observations of K2-18b in both the near-infrared light and longer wavelengths of mid-infrared light, the team concluded that it did not detect dimethyl sulfide. What's more, they found that other molecules, not just those possibly indicating signs of life, could explain the questionable discovery. In an earlier study published to arXiv, Jake Taylor, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford, took a look at the Webb telescope data using a common data model for exoplanet studies and came to much the same conclusion: Taylor found no evidence of the atmospheric clues that were so integral in the Cambridge study's findings. Madhusudhan, who has issued rebuttals to some of the findings dismissing his potential discovery, has readily acknowledged that his team's observations are in need of further review. In announcing the findings, Madhusudhan conceded the molecules observed could have occurred by chance or could be the result of previously unknown chemical processes at work on K2-18b. Regardless, it appears astronomers all agree that we may not be as close as we thought to determining whether anything does indeed live on K2-18b. 'Answering whether there is life outside the solar system is the most important question of our field. It is why we are all studying these planets,' Luque said in a statement. 'We are making enormous progress in this field, and we don't want that to be overshadowed by premature declarations.' Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Planet K2-18b life signs discovery now in doubt
Forbes
16-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
In Photos: Webb Telescope Reveals Massive Auroras On Jupiter
These observations of Jupiter's auroras were captured with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's ... More NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on Dec. 25, 2023. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed enormous swirling auroras on Jupiter for the first time. Hundreds of times more intense and brighter than those seen on Earth, they're caused both by high-energy particles from the sun but also from Jupiter's moon, Io — the most volcanic body in the solar system. The stunning images below reveal how the gas giant's magnetic field and atmospheric dynamics combine to produce something truly unique in the solar system. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our solar system's ... More largest planet. The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth. All auroras occur when high-energy particles enter a planet's atmosphere near its magnetic poles. The particles, which travel to a planet from the sun as the solar wind, then collide with gas atoms in a planet's atmosphere to produce photons of light. That's a textbook explanation for Earth and Jupiter, but the gas giant planet has something extra that makes its auroras significantly more intense. Captured on December 25, 2023, using its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Webb Telescope's images of Jupiter's auroral emissions were possible because it can detect emissions from trihydrogen cation, a molecule formed when high-energy electrons strike molecular hydrogen. The resulting emission — high up in Jupiter's atmosphere — is bright in infrared light, which Webb is uniquely sensitive to. It's thought that Jupiter's strong magnetic field grabs charged particles from its surroundings — not only those from the solar wind but also those thrown into space by the large volcanoes on its moon Io. Aurora on Jupiter, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014. Although Webb saw the auroras on Jupiter in 2023, the Hubble Space Telescope did not — despite the same observations being made simultaneously in the ultraviolet light by both space observatories. 'Bizarrely, the brightest light observed by Webb had no real counterpart in Hubble's pictures," said Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester in the U.K., who led the research. "This has left us scratching our heads. In order to cause the combination of brightness seen by both Webb and Hubble, we need to have a combination of high quantities of very low-energy particles hitting the atmosphere, which was previously thought to be impossible. We still don't understand how this happens.' Hubble photographed aurora around Jupiter's poles in 2016, which were also overseen by Nichols. The James Webb Space Telescope's 2022 image of Jupiter. Arguably, one of the most spectacular images of Jupiter ever taken was one from the Webb Telescope in 2022, as part of the Early Release Science program shortly after it began science operations. The image above, of Jupiter on July 27, 2022, was taken using Webb's NIRCam infrared instrument and showed the giant planet's mighty storms (including its 'Great Red Spot,' an Earth-sized anticyclonic storm), cloud bands, rings and unprecedented views of the planet's auroras over its north and south poles. The jaw-dropping image can be downloaded from the European Space Agency website. These observations of Jupiter's auroras (shown on the left of the above image) at 3.36 microns ... More (F335M) were captured with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on Dec. 25, 2023. Webb is the most ambitious and complex space science telescope ever constructed, with a massive 6.5-meter primary mirror that will be able to detect the faint light of far-away stars and galaxies. It's designed to detect infrared light emitted by distant stars, planets and clouds of gas and dust. During its initial 10-year mission, which began in 2022, Webb will study the solar system, directly image exoplanets, photograph the first galaxies, and explore the mysteries of the origins of the Universe. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
