The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) notched another astronomical achievement in its figurative belt: It discovered carbon-based molecules in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, a planet that is far outside our solar system. This is particularly significant because the exoplanet in question, K2–18 b, is believed to contain an ocean....
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Scientists operating the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) announced on Wednesday that it had captured the most detailed images ever of two actively forming stars, collectively known as Herbig-Haro 46/47. Using high-resolution infrared light, the JWST managed to catch images of the distant objects despite being roughly 1,470 light-years away.
NASA scientists are particularly intrigued by these images because of the two “lobes” that can be seen jutting out of either side of the disk where the two stars are gathering mass....
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Since 2007, astronomers have proposed the existence of a weird type of star: one powered by the heat of dark matter. In cosmology, dark matter is a difficult thing to explain because we literally don’t know what it is. We can’t see it, hence the name “dark,” but without it factored into our equations of the universe, things just don’t add up....
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Dr. Michelle Thaller is perhaps the epitome of a hip NASA astronomer: An astrophysicist by background, Thaller emceed the 2022 broadcast that revealed the James Webb Space Telescope’s first science images to the world. The decision to choose her was logical, as Thaller also regularly talks astronomy on The History Channel and Science Channel....
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While the James Webb Space Telescope is a secular achievement, the pioneering telescope nevertheless conjured up that Biblical imagery of “Let there be light!” with its most recent revelation: There could have been hundreds of ancient galaxies at the universe’s beginning, instead of only a handful, and we can still see some of that light that shone at the time....
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