Latest news with #NIRSpec
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
James Webb Space Telescope unveils fiery origins of a distant, hellish exoplanet
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered the tumultuous history of a distant, hellishly hot exoplanet that's being stretched and scorched by its star. The planet, known as WASP-121b, is locked in a dangerously close orbit around a star roughly 900 light-years away that's brighter and hotter than our sun. Locked in a blistering 30-hour orbit, the world lies so close to its star that intense tidal forces have warped it into a football-like shape, leaving it on the verge of being torn apart by gravity. One side of the planet faces its star permanently, baking at temperatures over 3,000°C (5,400°F) — hot enough for it to rain liquid iron. Even the opposite hemisphere, locked in eternal night, simmers at 1,500°C (2,700°F). This extreme environment makes WASP-121b one of the most hostile planets ever observed, and a valuable target for planetary science. Now, using the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) Near Infrared Spectrograph instrument, or NIRSpec, a team led by astronomer Thomas Evans-Soma of the University of New Castle in Australia detected a cocktail of molecules in the planet's atmosphere that each carry chemical clues to its dramatic journey. These include water vapor, carbon monoxide, methane and, for the first time ever in a planetary atmosphere, silicon monoxide. Together, they tell a dramatic origin story of WASP-121b written in vapor and stone, described in two papers published Monday (June 2). "Studying the chemistry of ultra hot planets like WASP-121b helps us to understand how gas giant atmospheres work under extreme temperature conditions," Joanna Barstow, a planetary scientist at the Open University in the U.K. and a co-author of both new studies, said in a statement. The findings from both studies suggest WASP-121b did not form where it is today. Instead, it likely originated in a colder, more distant region of its planetary system, similar to the zone between Jupiter and Uranus in our own solar system. There, it would have accumulated methane-rich ices and heavy elements, embedding a distinct chemical signature in its growing atmosphere. Later, gravitational interactions — possibly with other planets — would have sent WASP-121b spiraling inward toward its star. As it moved closer, its supply of icy, oxygen-rich pebbles would've been cut off, but it should have been able to continue gathering carbon-rich gas. This would explain why the world's atmosphere today contains more carbon than oxygen, a chemical imbalance that offers a snapshot of its journey through the disk. To make sense of the complex atmospheric data, the second team of researchers, led by Cyril Gapp of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, created 3D models of the planet's atmosphere, accounting for the vast temperature differences between the day and night sides. Their simulations, described in a paper published in The Astronomical Journal, helped separate signals from different regions of the planet as it orbited, revealing how molecules shift and circulate throughout the orbit. Among the molecules newly detected, the presence of silicon monoxide was particularly revealing, scientists say, as it isn't typically found in the gaseous form they observed. Instead, the researchers suggest this gas was originally locked in solid minerals like quartz within asteroid-size planetesimals that crashed into the young planet. Over time, as the planet grew and spiraled inward toward its star, those materials would have been vaporized and mixed into its atmosphere, according to one of the new papers, published in Nature Astronomy. Related Stories: — Scientists question possible signs of life on exoplanet K2-18b in new study: 'We never saw more than insignificant hints' — Scientists found a possible new dwarf planet — it could spell bad news for Planet 9 fans — Exoplanet 'baby pictures' reveal exomoons possibly taking shape around infant worlds On the cooler "night" side of WASP-121b, the researchers found an abundance of methane gas. This came as a surprise as methane typically breaks down under such heat, the study notes. "Given how hot this planet is, we weren't expecting to see methane on its nightside," study co-author Anjali Piette, who is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Birmingham, said in a statement. Its presence suggests methane is being replenished, likely pulled up from deeper, cooler layers of the atmosphere. "This challenges exoplanet dynamical models, which will likely need to be adapted to reproduce the strong vertical mixing we've uncovered on the nightside of WASP-121b," study lead author Thomas Evans-Soma of the University of New Castle in Australia added in another statement.
NDTV
3 days ago
- General
- NDTV
James Webb Telescope Detects Frozen Water In Young Star System For The First Time
For decades, scientists have been fascinated by the mystery of how life originated on Earth and where our water came from. One long-standing theory suggests that water was present around our star, particularly in the outer reaches of the solar system in its early days. Recently, NASA researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope made a groundbreaking discovery that lends credence to this theory. They've found water ice in the debris disk that orbits HD 181327, a Sun-like star 155 light-years from Earth. According to Science Alert, the star system, just 23 million years old, is significantly younger than our 4.6-billion-year-old Solar System. This youthful system is still in its formative stages, with a protoplanetary disk surrounding the star that hasn't yet coalesced into planets. Chen Xie, an assistant research scientist at JHU and the study's lead author, said in a recent NASA press release, "Webb unambiguously detected not just water ice, but crystalline water ice, which is also found in locations like Saturn's rings and icy bodies in our Solar System's Kuiper Belt. The presence of water ice helps facilitate planet formation. Icy materials may also ultimately be 'delivered' to terrestrial planets that may form over a couple of hundred million years in systems like this." Using the James Webb Space Telescope's near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec), researchers detected water ice in the debris disk surrounding HD 181327. The water ice was predominantly found in the outer debris ring, making up over 20% of its mass, in the form of "dirty snowballs", a combination of ice and fine dust particles. The amount of water ice decreased closer to the star, with only 8% of the material consisting of ice halfway in from the disk's edge, and virtually none near the centre. This decrease is likely due to vaporisation from the star's ultraviolet radiation or potentially locked up in rocks and planetesimals. "When I was a graduate student 25 years ago, my advisor told me there should be ice in debris disks, but before Webb, we didn't have instruments sensitive enough to make these observations. What's most striking is that this data looks similar to the telescope's other recent observations of Kuiper Belt objects in our own Solar System," said Christine Chen, an associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and co-author on the study. Analysing these actively forming planetary systems will enhance our understanding of planet formation models and provide fresh insights into the origins of our own Solar System.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
James Webb Space Telescope discovers an alien planetary system's icy edge
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. At long last, particles of water–ice have been discovered in the frozen Kuiper Belt of another star. The discovery, made by the James Webb Space Telescope, is a major step forward in filling in gaps in our understanding of how exoplanets develop. Like the Kuiper Belt in our solar system, this extraterrestrial debris disk is likely filled with comets, dwarf planets and a lot of water-ice particles chipped off larger bodies as the result of collisions. The debris disk, also like our Kuiper Belt, is made up of remnants of a larger disk that once encircled the star — called HD 181327 — and probably gave birth to planets. To be clear, however, no planets in the region have been detected thus far. Because water is one of the most common molecules in the universe, its presence in HD 181327's debris disk is not a surprise. Indeed, exocomets have been detected around other stars; in our solar system, comets come from the frigid, icy Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud, so exocomets must originate from somewhere similar. However, while debris disks around other stars have been known about and imaged ever since the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) found debris disks around two nearby stars (Vega and beta Pictoris) a while back, we've not had an instrument able to detect water-ice within them until now. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec), astronomers led by Chen Xie of Johns Hopkins University in the United States probed the debris disk around HD 181327. The star and its debris disk have previously been well-studied. Located 155.6 light-years away, they are just 18.5 million years old. This is extremely young compared to our sun's age of 4.6 billion years. The star is an F-type, meaning it's a little hotter and slightly more massive than our sun. NIRSpec detected the signature water in HD 181327's spectrum, principally at a wavelength of 3 microns (millionths of a meter), with a peak coming at 3.1 microns. This spike in the spectrum, referred to as a "Fresnel peak," is caused by the refraction of light by water-ice particles that are just millimeters in size. This is similar in size to the icy particles in Saturn's rings, for example, and the ice is likely frozen around motes of interplanetary dust. "Basically, we detected a water–ice reservoir," Xie told This water–ice reservoir could be instrumental in the development of any planetary system that might exist around HD 181327. Gas giant planets, for example, form beyond a boundary called the snow line, which is the distance from a star where temperatures are cold enough for planet-forming material to contain water-ice. Water-ice helps material stick together in a giant kind of mush that can form the basis of a large, rocky planetary core that can then pull in gas to form the distended atmosphere of a giant planet. The water on terrestrial planets such as Earth also likely was delivered by asteroids and/or comets that formed beyond the snow line and are rich in water-ice. Therefore, the discovery of water-ice in HD 181327's debris disk means the materials are present there to aid in the development of any planets orbiting the star, although at this time no planets have yet been detected in the system. "The presence of a water-ice reservoir in the planetesimal belt around HD 181327 provides the potential to deliver water to nearby planets," said Xie. "But we don't know how much water-ice could eventually be delivered to the planets in the system." It's tempting to make comparisons between our Kuiper Belt and HD 181327's debris disk. Xie warns about being too literal in the comparison, though, because there are significant gaps in our knowledge of both icy belts and how they relate to each other. Nevertheless, we can draw some general conclusions. "The presence of water-ice in a debris disk around such a young star does suggest that icy planetesimals can form relatively quickly, so it's possible that icy bodies in our own Kuiper Belt could have formed early in the cold outer regions of the solar system," he said. Their early existence could have then helped in the development of the solar system's planets. However, the planet-forming disk around HD 181327 has now dissipated, and any planets that are present will have already formed. Furthermore, the JWST's observations show how the inner region of the debris disk is being eroded by the star's ultraviolet light. The strength of the spectral line for water-ice at the inner edge of the debris disk, 80 to 90 astronomical units (meaning 80 to 90 times Earth's distance from the sun), suggests water-ice makes up just 0.1% of the total mass in that part of the disk. Farther out, between 90 and 105 astronomical units, the water-ice mass fraction rises to 7.5%, and between 105 and 120 astronomical units it peaks at 21%, out where it is coldest. Coincidentally, the Fresnel peak is found between 90 and 105 astronomical units. So, what's going on? Ultraviolet light from the star is able to vaporize the water-ice, but something seems to be replenishing it — otherwise, the water-ice in the debris disk would have eroded away by now. This replenishment likely comes from collisions between dwarf planets, cometary nuclei, micrometeoroids and other flotsam and jetsam lurking in the dark of the debris disk. Each impact sputters more dust and ice grains into space, and each large impact sends a shower of fragments spinning away. If there's enough dust present, it could also shield water-ice from the star's ultraviolet light. Dust that has been detected already includes grains of olivine and iron sulfide. Related Stories: — 2nd Kuiper Belt? Our solar system may be much larger than thought — Hubble Telescope discovers a new '3-body problem' puzzle among Kuiper Belt asteroids (video) — New JWST observations of 'trans-Neptunian objects' could help reveal our solar system's past Meanwhile, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which is a radio telescope in Chile, has detected carbon monoxide in the debris disk, which could also have been released into space by collisions between icy bodies. In addition, the JWST's NIRSpec found tentative evidence for the presence of carbon dioxide in the region of the disk between 105 and 120 astronomical units from the star, although this still needs to be confirmed. A second spectral line for water-ice, at 4.5 microns, was also detected by the JWST in the 105 to 120 astronomical-unit region, indicating this outer part of the debris disk might be the most rich in volatiles: gases with low evaporation points. Now that the JWST has demonstrated that it can detect water-ice in exoplanetary systems, we can expect more widespread discoveries in the future. Indeed, Xie and his team are already working on it. "Besides HD 181327, we have also observed other systems with the JWST and NIRSPec," he said. "We're currently working on publishing those data, so stay tuned!" The discovery of water-ice around HD 181327 was published on May 14 in the journal Nature.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
James Webb Space Telescope captures 1st images of Neptune's elusive auroras
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For the first time, astronomers have captured direct images of Neptune's elusive auroras. Scientists have long suspected that the distant ice giant hosts shimmering light displays, based on fleeting hints from the Voyager 2 probe's flyby and observations of similar activity on Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Capturing images of Neptune's auroras had remained out of reach until the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or Webb) turned its powerful eye towards the icy planet. "Turns out, actually imaging the auroral activity on Neptune was only possible with Webb's near-infrared sensitivity," said Henrik Melin of Northumbria University, who conducted the research while at the University of Leicester, in a statement accompanying the photos. "It was so stunning to not just see the auroras, but the detail and clarity of the signature really shocked me." Even more significant is the unique nature of Neptune's aurora, which scientists say differs from those seen on Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, where auroras are typically confined to the poles. This is because their magnetic fields are relatively well aligned with their rotation axes, guiding charged particles from the solar wind toward the polar regions. Neptune, on the other hand, has a highly tilted and offset magnetic field, which means its auroras appear at unexpected locations, such as the planet's mid latitudes. These observations were made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), an instrument that analyzes the light absorbed or emitted by celestial objects. By breaking down the different wavelenghts of this light, scientists can determine key physical properties, such as temperature, mass and chemical composition. In this case, NIRSpec captured detailed images of Neptune's ionosphere — the electrically charged layer of its upper atmosphere, similar to Earth's ionosphere, where auroras form. Excitingly, Webb's data revealed emissions of trihydrogen cation (H₃⁺), one of the most abundant ions in the universe. This discovery is significant because H₃⁺ plays a crucial role in planetary auroras, glowing in response to interactions between planets' atmospheres and charged particles from the solar wind. "H3+ has a been a clear signifier on all the gas giants — Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus — of auroral activity, and we expected to see the same on Neptune as we investigated the planet over the years with the best ground-based facilities available," explained JWST scientist Heidi Hammel. "Only with a machine-like Webb have we finally gotten that confirmation." The team was also able to take a temperature reading of Neptune, something that hasn't been done since Voyager 2's flyby in August, 1989. "I was astonished [by the results]," Melin said. "Neptune's upper atmosphere has cooled by several hundreds of degrees [in that time]. In fact, the temperature in 2023 was just over half of that in 1989." RELATED STORIES: — Stunning light shows on Uranus and Saturn may soon draw James Webb Space Telescope's eye — Do extraterrestrial auroras occur on other planets? — Stunning light shows on Uranus and Saturn may soon draw James Webb Space Telescope's eye The dip in planetary temperature may help explain why the aurora have been so difficult to view. This is because auroras occur when charged particles excite atmospheric gases, causing them to emit light. Higher temperatures generally mean more energetic particles and a higher rate of collisions, leading to brighter auroras. A substantially colder temperature would reduce the density of energetic ions, leading to weaker emissions that are harder to detect. Astronomers will continue to study Neptune using the JWST, hoping to gain a deeper understanding of our solar system's strangest planet. "As we look ahead and dream of future missions to Uranus and Neptune, we now know how important it will be to have instruments tuned to the wavelengths of infrared light to continue to study the auroras," added Leigh Fletcher of Leicester University, co-author on the paper. "This observatory has finally opened the window onto this last, previously hidden ionosphere of the giant planets."
WIRED
24-03-2025
- Science
- WIRED
Scientists Scan Mysterious Planet as It Drifts Through Space
Mar 24, 2025 5:00 AM A team of researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to uncover new details about SIMP 0136, a free-floating planet in the Milky Way that does not orbit a star. Not every large object in space forms part of a solar system. There are some big objects that exist in isolation in space, without either being a star or orbiting one. One of these, SIMP 0136, wanders aimlessly in the Milky Way, about 20 light years away from Earth. It has a mass about 13 times that of Jupiter, and is thought to have the structure and chemical composition of a giant gas planet, though its true characteristics have not yet been determined. Such untethered objects are typically classified either as 'free-floating planets,' which form inside a star system, but are thrown out by the gravitational force of another planet, or as 'brown dwarfs,' which form like stars in dense molecular clouds of gas and dust, but lack the mass to undergo stable nuclear fusion like a typical star (for this reason, brown dwarfs are sometimes also known as 'failed stars'). It is unclear yet whether SIMP 0136 belongs to either of these categories. To try to find out more about SIMP 0136's characteristics, a team made up of researchers from Boston University and other institutions recently conducted detailed observations of the mysterious free-floating SIMP 0136 using the James Webb Space Telescope. An illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope, which was launched in December 2021. ILLUSTRATION: NASA SIMP 0136 was an ideal target for research, for several reasons. Although difficult to observe using visible light, it shines brightly in infrared—in fact, SIMP 0136 is the brightest free-floating planetary-mass object in the northern sky. And because it is free-moving, observations of it aren't affected by the light of nearby stars. On top of this, its rotation time is very short, about 2 hours and 40 minutes. This allows for efficient global observation of the planet. The James Webb Space Telescope was selected for this work because of its excellent infrared observation capabilities. The team used two instruments that focus on different infrared wavelengths to look at the planet: the telescope's Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and its Mid Infrared Observatory (MIRI). The team used NIRSpec to observe the object for over three hours, enough to cover the entire planet's rotational period. Then, MIRI was used to observe for another rotation. A video explaining the telescope's NIRSpec instrument. Previous observations had shown that SIMP 0136's brightness varies, but the reason for this was unclear. So, the team analyzed new data gathered from the James Webb Space Telescope using an atmospheric model, and found that some wavelengths of infrared light recorded (shown in red in the diagram below) came from a cloud of evaporated iron molecules in the deepest layer of the planet's atmosphere, while some other infrared wavelengths (shown in yellow below) came from a cloud of silicate mineral particles in the the planet's upper atmosphere. An illustration of the team's findings. The Y axis represents infrared brightness, the X axis the rotation of SIMP 0136. The curves are colored according to the wavelength of infrared light observed. ILLUSTRATION: NASA/ESA/CSA/JOSEPH OLMSTED (STSCI) The unevenness of the state of each cloud layer is thought to be the reason why the brightness of SIMP 0136 changes as it rotates. It's easy to understand if you think of Jupiter, which as a gas giant planet likely has a similar structure and chemical composition. Or for another way to picture this, try imagining the surface of the Earth, says Philip Muirhead of Boston University, a coauthor of a new paper outlining these findings about SIMP 0136. 'As the Earth rotates, when the ocean comes into view, you will observe stronger blue colors, and when you observe stronger brown or green colors, it means that continents, forest areas, et cetera come into view,' he explains. An image of an aurora observed on Jupiter, which could have a similar composition to SIMP 0136. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/ESA/J. NICHOLS (UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER); ACKNOWLEDGMENT: A. SIMON (NASA/GSFC)/THE OPAL TEAM In addition, the infrared light shown by the blue lines in the figure above comes from a high layer of SIMP 0136's atmosphere, far above its cloud layers. It is thought that the brightness of SIMP 0136, caused by these differences in infrared radiation, changes as it rotates because the temperature, like the cloud composition, varies from place to place on the planet. In addition, the researchers noticed hot spots where the planet's infrared light was particularly bright. They believe that these may be caused by auroras, the existence of which has already been confirmed by radio wave observations. However, it is difficult to explain all the changes in infrared brightness just by cloud and temperature variations. For this reason, the research team points out that there may be areas in SIMP 0136's atmosphere where carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are concentrated, and that these areas may also affect the infrared brightness as the planet rotates. This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese.
