Tag: space telescope
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Rogue Planet Eats Like a Star: A Runaway World Feeding at 6 Billion Tons per Second
Introduction: A Planet that Defies Expectations In a discovery that challenges long-held ideas about planetary behavior, astronomers have observed a rogue planet — a world that drifts through interstellar space without a parent star — consuming gas and dust at an astonishing rate. The object appears to be behaving more like a tiny star than…
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Webb Unveils Red Spider Nebula: A Halloween Peek at NGC 6537
Introduction: Webb’s Halloween Peek at a Cosmic Creepy Crawly Ahead of Halloween, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has offered a striking glimpse into the Red Spider Nebula (NGC 6537). Selected as JWST’s Picture of the Month, the new near-infrared image highlights the nebula’s intricate, spiky structures and a gas-enshrouded core that resembles a cosmic…
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Sydney Students Sharpen James Webb Space Telescope Images with Groundbreaking Software
Overview: Australian students fix a long-standing JWST limitation Two students from Sydney have quietly engineered a solution with global impact for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). By developing and applying a powerful software model, they corrected distortions in an onboard instrument and significantly sharpen the telescope’s deep-space images. The breakthrough not only improves the…
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Sydney Students Sharpen JWST Images with New Software
Two Sydney students unlock a sharper view from the James Webb Space Telescope Two innovative students from Sydney have led a globally significant effort to sharpen the James Webb Space Telescope’s vision. By tackling onboard instrument distortions, they boosted the telescope’s ability to detect Earth-like planets and observe distant cosmic phenomena with unprecedented clarity. The…
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Plato Spacecraft Final Tests Ready for December Launch 2026
Overview: Finalizing Plato for the Journey Beyond The European Space Agency’s Plato spacecraft has taken another crucial step toward its scheduled December 2026 launch by completing its final assembly in preparation for flight. At ESA’s Test Centre in the Netherlands, engineers completed the delicate operation of installing the combined sunshield and solar array module, a…
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Cosmic Clouds in N11: Hubble’s Oct 7, 2025 Photo of the Day
Hubble’s Oct 7, 2025 Photo of the Day: A Glimpse into Stellar Nurseries Cosmic clouds and newborn stars take center stage in the latest Hubble Space Telescope release, celebrating the agency’s ongoing mission to unveil the hidden beauty of our galactic neighborhood. The “Hubble Photo of the Day” for October 7, 2025, captures a vivid…
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Blazing Auroras on a Sunless World: JWST Sheds Light on SIMP-0136
Introduction: A Sunless World that Dares to Shine In a striking demonstration of how far observational astronomy has come, the James Webb Space Telescope has turned its gaze toward a sunless world known as SIMP-0136. This rogue brown dwarf, free-floating through the galaxy about 20 light-years away in the Pisces constellation, is not bound to…
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Phosphine on a brown dwarf reshapes the life-sign biosignature debate
Phosphine on a brown dwarf: a surprising detection NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected phosphine in the atmosphere of Wolf 1130C, a brown dwarf often described as a “failed star.” The discovery, published in Science, challenges the idea that phosphine is a universal sign of life. Brown dwarfs sit between planets and stars:…
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JWST Captures Auroras on a Rogue World SIMP-0136
JWST Delivers a New View of SIMP-0136 The James Webb Space Telescope has offered astronomers a rare look at SIMP-0136, a rogue world that drifts through interstellar space without a parent star. About 20 light-years away, this object is roughly 200 million years old and sits in a curious middle ground between a brown dwarf…
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Rogue Planet Auroras Bake a Bizarre World, JWST Finds
Rogue Planet Auroras: A New Kind of Heat Source A recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics reports a striking finding: a rogue planet wandering the galaxy—unbound to any star—exhibits auroral emissions so intense they effectively bake parts of its atmosphere. The discovery comes from observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and…