-
-------------------
------------------- 4384
- JAMES WEBB
12 DISCOVERIES?
-
- THE JWST TAKES A FRESH LOOK AT OUR SOLAR
SYSTEM. Although the JWST's purpose is
to see some of the first stars and galaxies in the universe, its fresh look at
our own solar system has been breathtaking.
-
- JWST revealed a high-speed jet stream on
Jupiter, previously unseen despite being over 3,000 miles wide and traveling at
about 320 mph. JWST identified carbon
dioxide in the salty liquid oceans of Jupiter's icy moon Europa for the first
time.
-
- The powerful observatory also captured this
stunning image of Uranus, its brightest moons and 11 of its 13 known dusty
rings.
-
- NEARBY EXOPLANET HAS ABUNDANT
LIFE-SUPPORTING MOLECULES. Previous observations with the Hubble Space
Telescope had indicated that “K2-18 b” may be s a "Hycean world," an
exoplanet that hosts thick, hydrogen-rich atmospheres with oceans of liquid
water underneath.
-
- Recent observations with the JWST support
that hypothesis, as the new data shows evidence for abundant methane and carbon
dioxide but little ammonia. These
results are the product of just two observations of K2-18 b, with many more on
the way.
-
- THE JWST DISCOVERS ITS SMALLEST OBJECT
YET. Scientists were thrilled with the
JWST's unexpected discovery of a small asteroid embedded in the main asteroid
belt between Mars and Jupiter. Like most residents of that region, the space
rock, which is about as tall as the Washington Monument, is thought to be a
remnant of the formation of the solar system and thus contains tantalizing
history about its evolution.
-
- Asteroids less than a mile long are
difficult to spot with other telescopes, so the find underscored the
telescope's usefulness closer to home.
-
- THE JWST FINDS MASSIVE, MYSTERIOUS
GALAXIES IN THE INFANT UNIVERSE. These
six galaxies may force astronomers to rewrite cosmology books. The discovery of galaxies as massive as the
Milky Way sprinkled across the JWST's images of the universe just 500 million
to 700 million years after the Big Bang. From what existing theories and models
tell us, the galaxies the JWST found are too big, and the mature red stars in
them too old, that the study "creates problems for science.
-
- AN INTENSIFYING DEBATE OVER THE UNIVERSE'S
EXPANSION RATE. A large galaxy has a
bright white core, and several large spiral arms extending out from that core,
rotating clockwise. The arms are light blue with many pink speckles and clumps
littering the arms. The background is also filled with a smattering of white
and pink dots.
-
- We know that the universe is expanding at
an ever-increasing rate, but we don't know precisely how fast. The issue has
become a debate centered on resolving the correct value of the “Hubble
constant”, an important number for estimating the universe's expansion rate.
Right now, model estimates for the Hubble constant don't agree with values
based on these telescope observations.
-
- The JWST observed a class of stars known as
Cepheid variables, which are usually humongous stars some 100,000 times
brighter than the sun and the most reliable source to measure cosmic distances
(and thus to tease out the universe's expansion rate). But instead of resolving
the debate, the JWST's data only deepened the ongoing debate over the Hubble
constant.
-
- Why are our best tools — our gold standard
tools — are not agreeing with each other?
-
- SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIRST
SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES. JWST helped
astronomers see starlight from two early galaxies where they think one of the
first supermassive black holes emerged. The JWST observed the galaxies as they
were when the universe was younger than 1 billion years, showing how, over
time, black holes gain unfathomable masses, often millions or billions of times
that of the sun.
-
- COMPLEX ORGANIC MOLECULES IN A PRIMORDIAL
GALAXY. Astronomers discovered
evidence of complex organic molecules similar to smoke or smog in the distant
galaxy shown here. The galaxy, more than 12 billion light years away, happens
to line up almost perfectly with a second galaxy only 3 billion light years
away from our perspective on Earth.
-
- The JWST detected these intriguing
carbon-based molecules, similar to the ones found in oil and coal deposits on
Earth, from over 12 billion years ago, when the universe was just 10% of its
current age. In space, these molecules link to minuscule dust grains. Detecting
them had been challenging because of the limits of our telescopes.
-
- MAISIE'S GALAXY IS AMONG THE EARLIEST EVER
SPOTTED. This blurry orange blob,
imaged by the JWST in summer 2022, is known as Maisie's galaxy, and in August
2023, astronomers announced that it's one of the earliest galaxies ever
discovered. The galaxy seems to have existed when the universe was only 390
million years old, making it one of the four earliest galaxies ever seen.
-
- This was the undiscovered frontier where we
really didn't know how the galaxies formed or what they looked like until we
went and looked for them with the JWST.
-
- THE MOST DISTANT SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE
EVER SEEN. Astronomers announced that
the JWST had detected the most distant active supermassive black hole ever
seen, whose host galaxy formed just 570 million years after the Big Bang.
However, this ancient black hole has puzzlingly low mass, just 9 million times
that of the sun. For comparison, most of these cosmic beasts weigh over 1
billion solar masses. It is still difficult to explain how it formed so soon
after the universe began.
-
- THE JWST REDISCOVERS AN ANCIENT GHOSTLY
GALAXY. The JWST's sighting of a fuzzy
galaxy embedded deep inside a dust cloud has been of recent interest to
astronomers, in part because it is seen as it appeared just 900 million years
after the Big Bang, when the very first stars were appearing. But astronomers
are also interested in the science lessons this galaxy is waiting to reveal,
potentially telling us there's a whole population of galaxies that have been
hiding from us.
-
- THE JWST SPOTS 3 POSSIBLE FABLED
"DARK STARS”. The JWST had found
three bright objects that could possibly be "dark stars," a reference
to the Grateful Dead song "Dark Star." The "stars" were
originally tagged as galaxies by the JWST in 2022.
-
- When we look at the James Webb data, there
are two competing possibilities for these objects. One is that they are galaxies containing
millions of ordinary, population-III stars. The other is that they are dark
stars. And believe it or not, one dark star has enough light to compete with an
entire galaxy of stars.
-
- Astronomers think these types of stars are
powered by dark matter, the elusive substance that makes up 85% of the matter
in our universe but is invisible to telescopes. If dark stars really do exist,
their presence would help solve the puzzling observations of how a very young
universe grew to host so many large galaxies as observed by the JWST.
-
- THE EARLIEST GALAXIES LOOKED SIMILAR TO OUR
MILKY WAY. Galaxy evolution theories
have predicted that the earliest galaxies in our universe were too young to
flaunt any noticeable features, like spiral arms, bars or rings; astronomers
have thought these more complex structures began appearing about 6 billion
years after the Big Bang. But this year, the JWST found that galaxies with such
delicate shapes could have existed as early as
3.7 billion years after the Big Bang.
-
- Based on our results astronomers must
rethink our understanding of the formation of the first galaxies and how galaxy
evolution occurred over the past 10 billion years.
-
-
March 10, 2024 4385
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Comments appreciated and
Pass it on to whomever is interested. --------
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback, corrections, request for
copies or Index of all reviews
--- to:
------
jamesdetrick@comcast.net
------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- --- Monday, March 11, 2024
---------------------------------
-
- THE JWST TAKES A FRESH LOOK AT OUR SOLAR
SYSTEM. Although the JWST's purpose is
to see some of the first stars and galaxies in the universe, its fresh look at
our own solar system has been breathtaking.
-
- JWST revealed a high-speed jet stream on
Jupiter, previously unseen despite being over 3,000 miles wide and traveling at
about 320 mph. JWST identified carbon
dioxide in the salty liquid oceans of Jupiter's icy moon Europa for the first
time.
-
- The powerful observatory also captured this
stunning image of Uranus, its brightest moons and 11 of its 13 known dusty
rings.
-
- NEARBY EXOPLANET HAS ABUNDANT
LIFE-SUPPORTING MOLECULES. Previous observations with the Hubble Space
Telescope had indicated that “K2-18 b” may be s a "Hycean world," an
exoplanet that hosts thick, hydrogen-rich atmospheres with oceans of liquid
water underneath.
-
- Recent observations with the JWST support
that hypothesis, as the new data shows evidence for abundant methane and carbon
dioxide but little ammonia. These
results are the product of just two observations of K2-18 b, with many more on
the way.
-
- THE JWST DISCOVERS ITS SMALLEST OBJECT
YET. Scientists were thrilled with the
JWST's unexpected discovery of a small asteroid embedded in the main asteroid
belt between Mars and Jupiter. Like most residents of that region, the space
rock, which is about as tall as the Washington Monument, is thought to be a
remnant of the formation of the solar system and thus contains tantalizing
history about its evolution.
-
- Asteroids less than a mile long are
difficult to spot with other telescopes, so the find underscored the
telescope's usefulness closer to home.
-
- THE JWST FINDS MASSIVE, MYSTERIOUS
GALAXIES IN THE INFANT UNIVERSE. These
six galaxies may force astronomers to rewrite cosmology books. The discovery of galaxies as massive as the
Milky Way sprinkled across the JWST's images of the universe just 500 million
to 700 million years after the Big Bang. From what existing theories and models
tell us, the galaxies the JWST found are too big, and the mature red stars in
them too old, that the study "creates problems for science.
-
- AN INTENSIFYING DEBATE OVER THE UNIVERSE'S
EXPANSION RATE. A large galaxy has a
bright white core, and several large spiral arms extending out from that core,
rotating clockwise. The arms are light blue with many pink speckles and clumps
littering the arms. The background is also filled with a smattering of white
and pink dots.
-
- We know that the universe is expanding at
an ever-increasing rate, but we don't know precisely how fast. The issue has
become a debate centered on resolving the correct value of the “Hubble
constant”, an important number for estimating the universe's expansion rate.
Right now, model estimates for the Hubble constant don't agree with values
based on these telescope observations.
-
- The JWST observed a class of stars known as
Cepheid variables, which are usually humongous stars some 100,000 times
brighter than the sun and the most reliable source to measure cosmic distances
(and thus to tease out the universe's expansion rate). But instead of resolving
the debate, the JWST's data only deepened the ongoing debate over the Hubble
constant.
-
- Why are our best tools — our gold standard
tools — are not agreeing with each other?
-
- SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIRST
SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES. JWST helped
astronomers see starlight from two early galaxies where they think one of the
first supermassive black holes emerged. The JWST observed the galaxies as they
were when the universe was younger than 1 billion years, showing how, over
time, black holes gain unfathomable masses, often millions or billions of times
that of the sun.
-
- COMPLEX ORGANIC MOLECULES IN A PRIMORDIAL
GALAXY. Astronomers discovered
evidence of complex organic molecules similar to smoke or smog in the distant
galaxy shown here. The galaxy, more than 12 billion light years away, happens
to line up almost perfectly with a second galaxy only 3 billion light years
away from our perspective on Earth.
-
- The JWST detected these intriguing
carbon-based molecules, similar to the ones found in oil and coal deposits on
Earth, from over 12 billion years ago, when the universe was just 10% of its
current age. In space, these molecules link to minuscule dust grains. Detecting
them had been challenging because of the limits of our telescopes.
-
- MAISIE'S GALAXY IS AMONG THE EARLIEST EVER
SPOTTED. This blurry orange blob,
imaged by the JWST in summer 2022, is known as Maisie's galaxy, and in August
2023, astronomers announced that it's one of the earliest galaxies ever
discovered. The galaxy seems to have existed when the universe was only 390
million years old, making it one of the four earliest galaxies ever seen.
-
- This was the undiscovered frontier where we
really didn't know how the galaxies formed or what they looked like until we
went and looked for them with the JWST.
-
- THE MOST DISTANT SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE
EVER SEEN. Astronomers announced that
the JWST had detected the most distant active supermassive black hole ever
seen, whose host galaxy formed just 570 million years after the Big Bang.
However, this ancient black hole has puzzlingly low mass, just 9 million times
that of the sun. For comparison, most of these cosmic beasts weigh over 1
billion solar masses. It is still difficult to explain how it formed so soon
after the universe began.
-
- THE JWST REDISCOVERS AN ANCIENT GHOSTLY
GALAXY. The JWST's sighting of a fuzzy
galaxy embedded deep inside a dust cloud has been of recent interest to
astronomers, in part because it is seen as it appeared just 900 million years
after the Big Bang, when the very first stars were appearing. But astronomers
are also interested in the science lessons this galaxy is waiting to reveal,
potentially telling us there's a whole population of galaxies that have been
hiding from us.
-
- THE JWST SPOTS 3 POSSIBLE FABLED
"DARK STARS”. The JWST had found
three bright objects that could possibly be "dark stars," a reference
to the Grateful Dead song "Dark Star." The "stars" were
originally tagged as galaxies by the JWST in 2022.
-
- When we look at the James Webb data, there
are two competing possibilities for these objects. One is that they are galaxies containing
millions of ordinary, population-III stars. The other is that they are dark
stars. And believe it or not, one dark star has enough light to compete with an
entire galaxy of stars.
-
- Astronomers think these types of stars are
powered by dark matter, the elusive substance that makes up 85% of the matter
in our universe but is invisible to telescopes. If dark stars really do exist,
their presence would help solve the puzzling observations of how a very young
universe grew to host so many large galaxies as observed by the JWST.
-
- THE EARLIEST GALAXIES LOOKED SIMILAR TO OUR
MILKY WAY. Galaxy evolution theories
have predicted that the earliest galaxies in our universe were too young to
flaunt any noticeable features, like spiral arms, bars or rings; astronomers
have thought these more complex structures began appearing about 6 billion
years after the Big Bang. But this year, the JWST found that galaxies with such
delicate shapes could have existed as early as
3.7 billion years after the Big Bang.
-
- Based on our results astronomers must
rethink our understanding of the formation of the first galaxies and how galaxy
evolution occurred over the past 10 billion years.
-
-
March 10, 2024 4385
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Comments appreciated and
Pass it on to whomever is interested. --------
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback, corrections, request for
copies or Index of all reviews
--- to:
------
jamesdetrick@comcast.net
------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- --- Monday, March 11, 2024
---------------------------------
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