Tag Archive for 'Spectrum'

Rendering of the likely view on a Hycean world. Image credit: Shang-Min Tsai / UCR.

Webb Probably Didn’t Detect Biosignature Gas on K2-18b

May 2, 2024 by News Staff

In 2023, astronomers reported a tentative detection of dimethyl sulfide — which is predominately produced by marine microbes on Earth and regarded...

This artist’s concept shows what WASP-43b could look like. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Webb Maps Weather on Hot Jupiter WASP-43b

Apr 30, 2024 by News Staff

WASP-43b is cloudy on the nightside and clear on the dayside, with equatorial winds howling around the planet at 8,050 km per hour (5,000 mph). This artist’s...

An artist’s impression of the center of the starburst galaxy NGC 253. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Detects Over One Hundred Molecular Species in Nearby Starburst Galaxy

Apr 2, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected over 100 molecular species in the center of the starburst galaxy...

This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Tricarbon Molecule Detected in Atmosphere of Titan

Mar 18, 2024 by Natali Anderson

The tricarbon molecule (C3) is likely produced in the upper atmosphere of Titan by the reaction of abundant acetylene with atomic carbon. This view of...

This image, taken by Webb’s MIRI instrument, shows a region near the IRAS 23385+6053 protostar. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / W.R.M. Rocha, LEI.

Webb Detects Complex Organic Molecules in Interstellar Ices toward Two Protostars

Mar 14, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected a variety of molecules ranging from relatively...

This two-part graphic shows evidence of a gaseous clump of helium in the halo surrounding galaxy GN-z11. In the top portion, at the far right, a small box identifies GN-z11 in a field of galaxies. The middle box shows a zoomed-in image of the galaxy. The box at the far left displays a map of the helium gas in the halo of GN-z11, including a clump that does not appear in the infrared colors shown in the middle panel. In the lower half of the graphic, a spectrum shows the distinct ‘fingerprint’ of helium in the halo. The full spectrum shows no evidence of other elements and so suggests that the helium clump must be fairly pristine, made of hydrogen and helium gas left over from the big bang, without much contamination from heavier elements produced by stars. Theory and simulations in the vicinity of particularly massive galaxies from these epochs predict that there should be pockets of pristine gas surviving in the halo, and these may collapse and form Population III star clusters. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Webb Detects Pristine Helium Clump in GN-z11’s Halo

Mar 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

GN-z11 is an exceptionally luminous galaxy that existed when our Universe was only 420 million years old, making it one of the earliest and most distant...

Composite-color image of A2744-QSO1. Image credit: Furtak et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07184-8.

Webb Finds Surprisingly Massive Black Hole in Early Universe

Feb 27, 2024 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have observed an extremely red, quasar-like object — named A2744-QSO1 — behind...

This Webb image shows ZF-UDS-7329, a rare massive galaxy that formed very early in the Universe. Image credit: Glazebrook et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07191-9.

Webb Discovers Massive Quiescent Galaxy with Old Stellar Population in Early Universe

Feb 16, 2024 by News Staff

The formation of galaxies by gradual hierarchical co-assembly of baryons and cold dark matter halos is a fundamental paradigm underpinning modern astrophysics...

Arredondo et al. looked at four silicate-rich asteroids using the FORCAST instrument on NASA’s SOFIA observatory to isolate the mid-infrared spectral signatures indicative of molecular water on two of them: Iris and Massalia. Image credit: NASA / Carla Thomas / Southwest Research Institute.

SOFIA Detects Molecular Water on Nominally Dry Asteroids

Feb 13, 2024 by News Staff

Using the FORCAST instrument on NASA’s retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), astronomers have obtained mid-infrared spectra...

The water detection in the transit spectrum of Gliese 9827d makes it the first water world candidate with an atmospheric water detection consistent with a water-rich envelope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Leah Hustak, STScI / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Hubble Detects Water Vapor in Atmosphere of Gliese 9827d

Jan 25, 2024 by News Staff

Using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have detected water vapor in the transmission...

An artist’s impression of FRB 110523 reaching Earth; the colors represent the burst arriving at different radio wavelengths, with long wavelengths (red) arriving seconds after short wavelengths (blue). Image credit: Jingchuan Yu / Beijing Planetarium.

Astronomers Detect Highly Active Repeating Fast Radio Burst

Dec 21, 2023 by News Staff

FRB 20220912A is a repeating fast radio burst that was discovered in 2022 and remained highly active for several months. Using the recently refurbished...

This Hubble image shows MCG-01-24-014, an active spiral galaxy some 275 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Beautiful Image of Active Spiral Galaxy

Dec 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A dazzling new photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the bright spiral galaxy MCG-01-24-014, which is known to host an active galactic nucleus. This...

An artist’s impression of a massive binary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / S.E. de Mink.

Astronomers Find Population of Stripped Helium Stars in Magellanic Clouds

Dec 14, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Removing the hydrogen-rich layers from a main sequence star exposes the helium-rich core. Such stripped helium stars are known at high and low masses,...

This infrared image from Hubble shows Milky Way’s nuclear star cluster, the densest and most massive star cluster in our Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / T. Do & A. Ghez, UCLA / V. Bajaj, STScI.

Astronomers Find Three Young Stars in Milky Way’s Nuclear Star Cluster

Dec 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The oldest of these stars is 1.5 billion years old while the youngest is only 100 million years old, according to a paper published in the Astrophysical...

An artist’s impression of the massive star-forming region, with the planet-forming disk XUE 1 in the foreground. Image credit: Maria Cristina Fortuna, www.mariacristinafortuna.com.

Webb Detects Various Molecules in Extremely Irradiated Protoplanetary Disk

Dec 1, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected abundant water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and acetylene...

This Webb image shows member galaxies of the galaxy cluster A2744-z7p9OD. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / T. Morishita, IPAC / A. Pagan, STScI.

Astronomers Detect Nickel and Other Unexpected Elements in Early Star-Forming Galaxies

Nov 23, 2023 by News Staff

Ancient starburst galaxies that formed 2-3 billion years after the Big Bang are unusually hot and contain unexpected elements, like nickel, according to...

An artist’s impression of the Gliese 3470 planetary system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Mid-Phanerozoic Exoplanets Might Be Easier to Detect than Modern Earth

Nov 2, 2023 by News Staff

In the search for life in the Universe, Earth provides a template of evolution for the one habitable planet we know. Earth’s atmospheric composition...

An artist’s impression of the hot-Jupiter WASP-17b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Webb Detects Quartz Clouds in Atmosphere of WASP-17b

Oct 16, 2023 by News Staff

A transmission spectrum of WASP-17b — a hot-Jupiter exopanet around 1,300 light-years away — captured by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI)...

The TRAPPIST-1 system is remarkable for its seven planets that are similar in size, mass, density, and stellar heating to the rocky planets Venus, Earth, and Mars in our own Solar System. This illustration shows what the rocky planet TRAPPIST-1b could look like based on the new study. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Webb Captures Transmission Spectra of TRAPPIST-1b

Sep 27, 2023 by Natali Anderson

TRAPPIST-1 is a nearby system of seven Earth-sized, temperate, rocky exoplanets transiting a Jupiter-sized ultracool red dwarf, ideally suited for in-depth...

Webb identified carbon dioxide on the icy surface of Europa that likely originated in the moon’s subsurface ocean. Image credit: Geronimo Villanueva, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Samantha Trumbo, Cornell University / NASA / ESA / CSA / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Europa’s Carbon Dioxide Originates from Source within Its Subsurface Ocean, Planetary Scientists Say

Sep 22, 2023 by News Staff

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa has an ocean beneath a crust of water ice. Solid carbon dioxide has previously been observed on the surface, but the source...

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