The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s most complex infrared telescope, built for a wide range of research projects. NASA is now targeting October 31 for its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/james-webb-telescope-hubble-successor-to-launch…
Tag: Spitzer
JADES will go deeper than the Hubble Deep Fields
Astronomers announced this month that a new deep-field survey called JADES will be carried out with the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s much-anticipated successor. The Webb is due to launch later this year. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/jades-deep-field-surveys-epoch-of-1st-galaxies…
Update on the 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby TRAPPIST-1
A new study of the seven Earth-sized exoplanets around TRAPPIST-1 indicate that all 7 planets are extremely similar to each other in makeup, but potentially quite different from Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/7-trappist-1-planets-similar-composition-unlike-earth…
Mapping stellar nurseries in the Milky Way
An international team of Astronomers from the Cosmostatistics Initiative (COIN) identified nearly 120,000 new young stellar objects (YSOs) based on data from the Infrared Array Camera of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The final catalog, named SPICY (Spitzer/IRAC Candidate YSO Catalog), is publicly available to anyone who wishes to study the first stages of stellar development. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-stellar-nurseries-milky.html…
Meet the hell planet with a magma ocean and rocky rain
Exoplanet K2-141b is fiery hot world that circles so close to its star that 1 side of the planet features a deep ocean of molten lava. Meanwhile, the other side is freezing cold. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/k2-141b-lava-planet-with-magma-ocean-rocky-rain-supersonic-winds-super-earth…
NASA to announce mysterious moon discovery on Monday
NASA’s upcoming news conference on October 26, 2020 promises “an exciting new discovery about the moon,” with references to the agency’s ambitious Artemis program, a plan to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-moon-announcement-monday-october-26-2020-sofia…
New study details atmosphere on ‘hot Neptune’ 260 light years away that ‘shouldn’t exist’
A team led by an astronomer from the University of Kansas has crunched data from NASA’s TESS and Spitzer space telescopes to portray for the first time the atmosphere of a highly unusual kind of exoplanet dubbed a “hot Neptune.” Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-atmosphere-hot-neptune-years-shouldnt.html…
What is interstellar space?
You might be surprised to learn that interstellar space isn’t just vacuum. It’s full of gases, elements, and dust – very thinly spread, to be sure – but the building blocks of stars and planets. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-interstellar-space…
The legacy of of the Spitzer Space Telescope
To understand the significance of the Spitzer Space Telescope on the understanding of our solar system, think of what the steam engine meant for the industrial revolution. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-legacy-spitzer-space-telescope.html…
Giant ‘survivor’ planet found orbiting dead star
For the first time, astronomers have detected a planet orbiting a white dwarf star. If further confirmed, the discovery shows that some planets could survive the destruction of their sun-like stars, and some might even remain potentially habitable. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/survivor-planet-wd-1856-b-orbiting-white-dwarf…