Inbox Astronomy: Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System

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Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System

Release date: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 11:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Researchers found water ice throughout a dusty debris disk circling the Sun-like star HD 181327.

We know water in its solid state — ice — exists on moons orbiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Telescopes have also spotted frozen water on dwarf planets, comets, and other bits of rock that “hang out” in the Kuiper Belt at the edge of our solar system. But for decades, water ice was not confirmed to exist around other stars.

The James Webb Space Telescope has unequivocally changed that: Data from its NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) confirmed the presence of water ice in a dusty debris disk that surrounds a star known as HD 181327.

Water ice heavily influences the formation of giant planets and may also be delivered by comets to fully formed rocky planets. Now that researchers have detected water ice with Webb, they have opened the door to studying how these processes play out in new ways — in many other planetary systems — for all researchers.

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Inbox Astronomy: Webb's Titan Forecast: Partly Cloudy With Occasional Methane Showers

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Webb's Titan Forecast: Partly Cloudy With Occasional Methane Showers

Release date: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 8:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Astronomers see evidence of clouds bubbling up over Titan’s northern hemisphere.

Saturn’s moon Titan is the only solar system moon with a substantial atmosphere. It also contains a soup of carbon-containing molecules, making it an intriguing target for astrobiological studies despite its frigid temperature of about -290 degrees Fahrenheit (-180 degrees Celsius).

Astronomers have used both probes like Cassini/Huygens and ground-based telescopes like the W.M. Keck Observatories to monitor weather on Titan. Now, a team has combined data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck II telescope to see evidence of cloud convection in Titan’s northern hemisphere for the first time. Most of Titan’s lakes and seas are located in that hemisphere, and are likely replenished by an occasional rain of methane and ethane.

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Inbox Astronomy: NASA's Webb Reveals New Details, Mysteries in Jupiter's Aurora

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NASA's Webb Reveals New Details, Mysteries in Jupiter's Aurora

Release date: Monday, May 12, 2025 8:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Webb sees the aurora flickering, fluctuating, and undulating at Jupiter’s north pole.

Earth’s auroras, also known as the Northern and Southern Lights, appear as shimmering curtains visible to observers on the ground and even astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Auroras occur when energetic particles from the Sun are funneled by our magnetic field and slam into the atmosphere near Earth’s poles.

The planet Jupiter experiences auroras on a much grander scale – both larger and hundreds of times brighter than Earth’s. Astronomers turned Webb’s keen gaze to Jupiter and found that its auroras “pop” and “fizz,” changing on timescales of minutes or even seconds.

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Inbox Astronomy: NASA's Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole

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NASA's Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole

Release date: Thursday, May 8, 2025 10:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Wandering black hole ate a star that got in its way.

The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a sneaky black hole that betrayed its presence in a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE), where a hapless star was ripped apart and swallowed in a spectacular burst of radiation. Unlike previously observed TDEs, which took place in the center of a galaxy, this event was thousands of light-years from its galactic center. This is the first offset TDE captured by optical sky surveys, and it opens up the entire possibility of uncovering this elusive population of wandering black holes with future sky surveys.

The TDE black hole is far enough away from the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole that they are not gravitationally bound to each other as a binary pair. And, astronomers don’t know if the roaming black hole is coming or going. Did it fall into the galaxy as a result of a merger between two galaxies? Or was it kicked out of a “wresting ring” where three supermassive black hole dynamically interacted?

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Inbox Astronomy: New Visualization From NASA's Webb Telescope Explores Cosmic Cliffs

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New Visualization From NASA's Webb Telescope Explores Cosmic Cliffs

Release date: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 2:00:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Iconic Webb image transforms into a 3D landscape of gas, dust, and stars.

Powerful observatories like the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes have captured hundreds of vivid images of the cosmos. Yet even the most stunning images are a 2D representation of a 3D universe. It becomes difficult to get a sense of the true scale and structure of what we’re seeing.

By combining real data with scientific expertise and a dash of artistic license, a visualization team from NASA’s Universe of Learning has transformed one of Webb’s first images, the Cosmic Cliffs, into a 3D panorama. Viewers are invited to journey through this realm of dusty peaks and valleys.

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Inbox Astronomy: NASA's Webb Lifts Veil on Common but Mysterious Type of Exoplanet

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NASA's Webb Lifts Veil on Common but Mysterious Type of Exoplanet

Release date: Monday, May 5, 2025 10:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Scientists determine atmospheric makeup of small, hot, gassy sub-Neptune.

Much smaller than gas-giants and typically cooler than hot Jupiters, sub-Neptunes were extremely challenging to observe before the launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Though they appear to be the most common type of exoplanet in our galaxy, you won’t find them in our solar system. Astronomers are trying to understand how these planets formed and evolved, why they are so common, and why they don’t orbit our Sun. 

Adding to the mystery, many sub-Neptunes appear to be very highly obscured by clouds and hazes, which have made it impossible to determine their atmospheric makeup. Now, by using Webb to study the hot sub-Neptune TOI-421 b, scientists have uncovered the chemical fingerprints of its atmosphere. Did this exoplanet form and evolve differently from the cooler, sub-Neptunes observed previously? Do TOI-421 b’s differences indicate a new classification of hot sub-Neptunes, or is it just that exoplanets are very diverse? By using Webb, researchers hope to find out.

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