100 Fascinating Facts About The Drake Equation. Read All The Facts here

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Wins Prestigious Collier Trophy

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James Webb Discovery - NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Wins Prestigious Collier Trophy

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Wins Prestigious Collier Trophy

New Image from James Webb Telescope release today! Learn more..

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James Webb Telescope Reveals The Massive Star Cluster Westerlund 1

James Webb Telescope Reveals The Massive Star Cluster Westerlund 1

Discovery Alert! Mindblowing Discovery released by the Webb Telescope on December 13, 2023. Webb Telescope Spots Record-Breaking Free-Floating Tiny Brown Dwarf. Read full article here.

Discovery Alert! Mindblowing Discovery released by the Webb Telescope on December 13, 2023. Webb Telescope Spots Record-Breaking Free-Floating Tiny Brown Dwarf. Read full article here.

Dive into the celestial unknown with the latest discovery from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope! 🌠🔭 Our astronomers have uncovered the tiniest free-floating brown dwarf, challenging everything we thought we knew about star formation. 🌟🤯

🔍 What's the Buzz? This groundbreaking find within the star cluster IC 348 has scientists buzzing! 🌌🔍 Tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs—larger than planets yet not quite stars—have been discovered, redefining the boundaries of our cosmic understanding. 🌌🔬

📸 Jaw-Dropping Imagery! Feast your eyes on stunning imagery captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on the Webb Telescope. 📷✨ See wispy curtains of interstellar material, reflection nebulae, and even carbon-containing molecules called PAHs! 🌈💫

🤔 Mysteries Unveiled! The smallest brown dwarf, weighing only three to four times Jupiter's mass, challenges conventional theories of star formation. 🌠🤔 Unravel the cosmic mysteries with us! 🚀💡

🌪️ Stellar Sculptors! Learn how winds from the most massive stars in the cluster contribute to the magnificent loops and patterns observed in the cosmic tapestry. 🎨✨

🌏 Join the Space Conversation! Let's explore the universe together! 🚀💬 Share your thoughts, questions, and cosmic excitement in the comments. 💙🌌

👉 Read the Full Article here - Delve deeper into the cosmos with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Click the link above to embark on a journey of discovery! 🌌📖

#NASA #WebbTelescope #SpaceDiscovery #CosmicWonders #StellarEvolution #AstronomyMagic ✨🌠

An astronomical waltz reveals a sextuplet of planets

An international collaboration between astronomers using the CHEOPS and TESS space satellites, including NCCR PlanetS members from the University of Bern and the University of Geneva, have found a key new system of six transiting planets orbiting a bright star in a harmonic rhythm. This rare property enabled the team to determine the planetary orbits which initially appeared as an unsolvable riddle.

CHEOPS is a joint mission by ESA and Switzerland, under the leadership of the University of Bern in collaboration with the University of Geneva. Thanks to a collaboration with scientists working with data from NASA’s satellite TESS, the international team could uncover the planetary system orbiting the nearby star HD110067. A very distinctive feature of this system is its chain of resonances: the planets orbit their host star in perfect harmony. Part of the research team are researchers from the University of Bern and the University of Geneva who are also members of the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS. The findings have just been published in Nature.

The planets in the HD110067 system revolve around the star in a very precise waltz. When the closest planet to the star makes three full revolutions around it, the second one makes exactly two during the same time. This is called a 3:2 resonance. “Amongst the over 5000 exoplanets discovered orbiting other stars than our Sun, resonances are not rare, nor are systems with several planets. What is extremely rare though, is to find systems where the resonances span such a long chain of six planets” points out Dr. Hugh Osborn, CHEOPS fellow at the University of Bern, leader of CHEOPS observation programme involved in the study, and co-author of the publication. This is precisely the case of HD110067 whose planets form a so-called “resonant chain” in successive pairs of 3:2, 3:2, 3:2, 4:3, and 4:3 resonances, resulting in the closest planet completing six orbits while the outer-most planet does one.

A seemingly unsolvable puzzle

Although multiple planets were initially detected thanks to their transits, the exact arrangement of the planets was unclear at first. However, the precise gravitational dance enabled the scientists’ team to solve the puzzle of HD110067. Prof. Adrien Leleu from the University of Geneva, in charge of analysing the orbital resonances, and co-author of the study, explains: “A transit occurs when a planet, from our point of view, passes in front of its host star, blocking a minute fraction of the starlight, creating an apparent dip of its brightness.” From the first observations carried out by NASA’s TESS satellite, it was possible to determine that the two inner planets called ‘b’ and ‘c’ have orbital periods of 9 and 14 days respectively. However, no conclusions could be drawn for the other four detected planets as two were seen to transit once in 2020 and once in 2022 with a large 2-year gap in the data, and the other two transited only once in 2022.

The solution to the puzzle for those four additional planets finally began to emerge thanks to observations with the CHEOPS space telescope. While TESS aims at scanning all of the sky bit by bit to find short-period exoplanets, CHEOPS is a targeted mission, focusing on a single star at a time with exquisite precision. “Our CHEOPS observations enabled us to find that the period of planet ‘d’ is 20.5 days. Also, it ruled out multiple possibilities for the remaining three outer planets, ‘e’, ‘f’ and ‘g’,” reveals Osborn.

Predicting the precise waltz of the planets

That is when the team realized that the three inner planets of HD110067 are dancing in a precise 3:2, 3:2 chain of resonances: when the innermost planet revolves nine times around the star, the second revolves six times and the third planet four times.

The team then considered the possibility that the three other planets could also be part of the chain of resonances. “This led to dozens of possibilities for their orbital period,” explains Leleu, “but combining existing observational data from TESS and CHEOPS, with our model of the gravitational interactions between the planets, we could exclude all solutions but one: the 3:2, 3:2, 3:2, 4:3, 4:3 chain.” The scientists could therefore predict that the outer three planets (‘e’, ‘f’ and ‘g’) have orbital periods of 31, 41 days, and 55 days.

This prediction allowed to schedule observations with a variety of ground-based telescopes. Further transits of planet ‘f’ were observed, revealing it was precisely where theory predicted it based on the resonant-chain. Finally, reanalysis of the data from TESS revealed two hidden transits, one from each of planets ‘f’ and ‘g’, exactly at the times expected by the predictions, confirming the periods of the six planets. Additional CHEOPS observations of each planet, and in particular planet ‘e’ are scheduled in the near future.

A key system for the future

From the handful of resonant-chain systems found so far, CHEOPS has highly contributed to the understanding of not only HD110067, but also of TOI-178. Another well-known example of a resonant-chain system is the TRAPPIST-1 system which hosts seven rocky planets. However, TRAPPIST-1 is a small and incredibly faint star which makes any additional observations very difficult. HD110067, on the other hand, is more than 50 times brighter than TRAPPIST-1.

“The fact that the planets in the HD110067 system have been detected by the transit method is key. While they pass in front of the star, light also filters through the planetary atmospheres” points out Jo Ann Egger, PhD student at the University of Bern, who computed the composition of the planets using CHEOPS data, and co-author of the study. This property is allowing astronomers to determine the chemical composition and other properties of the atmospheres. Since a lot of light is required, the bright star HD110067 and its orbiting planets are an ideal target for further studies to charachterize the planetary atmospheres. “The sub-Neptune planets of the HD110067 system appear to have low masses, suggesting they may be gas- or water-rich. Future observations, for example with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), of these planetary atmospheres could determine whether the planets have rocky or water-rich interior structures,” concludes Egger.

TOP IMAGE....A rare family of six exoplanets has been unlocked with the help of ESA’s Cheops mission. The planets in this family are all smaller than Neptune and revolve around their star HD110067 in a very precise waltz. When the closest planet to the star makes three full revolutions around it, the second one makes exactly two during the same time. This is called a 3:2 resonance. The six planets form a resonant chain in pairs of 3:2, 3:2, 3:2, 4:3, and 4:3, resulting in the closest planet completing six orbits while the outer-most planet does one. Cheops confirmed the orbital period of the third planet in the system, which was the key to unlocking the rhythm of the entire system. This is the second planetary system in orbital resonance that Cheops has helped reveal. The first one is called TOI-178. Credit © ESA

LOWER IMAGE....Tracing a link between two neighbour planet at regular time interval along their orbits, creates a pattern unique to each couple. The six planets of the HD110067 system create together a mesmerising geometric pattern due to their resonance-chain. Credit © , Thibaut Roger/NCCR PlanetS

What are 100 Fascinating Facts about the Fermi Paradox ? Read here

🚀✨ Explore the Cosmos with Us: Webb Telescope's Unveiling of NGC 346! ✨🌌 New Image from James Webb Telescope released on October 10, 2023

We've got an interstellar treat for you! 🛰️ Get ready to embark on a cosmic journey as we delve into the wonders of NGC 346, revealed by the awe-inspiring James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). 🌟

Our latest article takes you through this incredible revelation - from the ethereal colors to the secrets of cosmic dust, star formation, and the history of our universe. 🌌💫

It's a breathtaking masterpiece, with blues representing silicates and PAHs, and gentle red hues warming up the dust, thanks to the brightest stars in this celestial wonderland. 🎨💫

But there's more! The image showcases a vivid spectrum, letting us see the cosmos in a whole new light. 🌈✨

Join us in celebrating the brilliance of NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, N. Habel (JPL), and the image-processing magic by P. Kavanagh (Maynooth University). 🌠🙌

Share the cosmic love, dive into the article, and tell us what your favorite cosmic wonder is in the comments! Let's get lost in the beauty of the universe together! 🚀💖

Read more here 🌠👇 🌟🔭

Observation Alert! James Webb Telescope is observing NGC 6334 - The Cat's Paw Nebula this week. Read full article here

JWST turns its infrared eye towards The Cat's Paw Nebula, let's buckle up for a journey through space and time. 🌌🔭 Who knows what mysteries we'll unravel and what mind-blowing discoveries await us? One thing's for sure: the universe is one vast, incredible playground, and we're lucky enough to have a front-row seat! 🌠🌌✨

Stay starry-eyed, Tumblr fam! 🌠💫 And let's keep our cosmic curiosity burning bright! 🔥🚀✨ #JWST #CatPawNebula #StarryDreams #SpaceWonders

What Are Wolf-Rayet Stars?

Wolf-Rayet stars are among the most fascinating objects in the universe, characterized by their intense luminosity, high temperatures, and strong stellar winds. These massive stars are in the later stages of their lives and are known for their complex and varied spectra, which provide astronomers with a wealth of information about their physical properties and evolution. In this article, we will explore the remarkable WR 124 star photographed by the James Webb Space Telescope. WR 124 is located 15000 light years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Read more here

Discovery Alert! New JWST image released on August 29, 2023. James Webb Telescope's Intimate Portrait of M51 Will Leave You Speechless! Full article here

Is Alien Life Real? JWST’s K2-18b Discovery Might Just Blow Your Mind!

What’s K2-18b, and Why Should You Care?

K2-18b is a super-Earth—think Earth, but bigger, badder, and 8.6 times our planet’s mass. It orbits a cool red dwarf star in the habitable zone, where liquid water (aka life’s BFF) could exist. Discovered in 2015 by NASA’s Kepler mission, this exoplanet is 124 light-years away in the constellation Leo, zipping around its star every ~33 days.

The James Webb Space Telescope, aka the universe’s ultimate peeping Tom, is designed to snoop on distant planets’ atmospheres. Using its fancy spectrographs (NIRISS, NIRSpec, and MIRI), JWST analyzed starlight passing through K2-18b’s atmosphere and found some wild stuff:

The catch? The DMS/DMDS signals are at a three-sigma level (99.7% confidence), not the gold-standard five-sigma (99.99994%). Scientists need more data to be sure, but the levels detected—10 parts per million, thousands of times higher than Earth’s—are making jaws drop. As Professor Nikku Madhusudhan, the lead researcher, said, “This is the strongest evidence yet there is possibly life out there.”

Want the full scoop on how JWST pulled this off? Check out this epic article on James Webb Discovery!

Image: JWST’s spectra of K2-18b, showing peaks for methane, CO₂, and a tentative DMS signal. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford, Joseph Olmsted, Nikku Madhusudhan

But Wait, Is It Really Aliens?

Okay, before we start planning an interstellar road trip, let’s pump the brakes. The science community is super excited but also super cautious. Here’s the tea:

Skepticism Alert: Some researchers, like MIT’s Sara Seager, warn that “enthusiasm is outpacing evidence.” DMS can form without life, like in comets (shoutout to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) or through chemical reactions in hazy atmospheres.

Alternative Theories: K2-18b might not be a lush ocean world. It could be a mini gas giant with no surface or a magma ocean planet (aka a lava nightmare). Rude, right?

More Data Needed: The Cambridge team needs 16–24 more hours of JWST time to hit five-sigma certainty, which could happen in 1–2 years.

Why This Matters (Like, A Lot)

Plus, JWST is just getting started. It’s already eyeing other exoplanets like TRAPPIST-1e, and future telescopes (hello, Habitable Worlds Observatory!) will take us even closer to finding E.T. This is the kind of stuff that makes you stare at the stars and wonder, “What’s out there?”