The warm gas giant WASP-107 b, known for its unusually low density and moderate temperature, may have an inflated atmosphere due to tidal heating that warms its interior more than previously thought. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com A surprising depletion of methane suggests that tidal heating has puffed up the atmosphere of warm gas giant WASP-107 … Read more
A surprisingly low methane reservoir could explain how a planet around a nearby star became strangely bloated, according to new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST(. The finding shows that planetary atmospheres can inflate to remarkable amounts without resorting to esoteric theories of planet formation, astronomers say. “The Webb data tells us that … Read more
The Orion Nebula may be a well-known and well-studied celestial object, but new images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show this star-forming cloud of gas and dust in an incredibly new and vibrant light. The Orion Nebula, also known as “Messier 42” (M42), is located about 1,500 light-years from Earth toward the constellation … Read more
Astronomers have taken advantage of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to detect the furthest pair of colliding black holes in the known universe. The cosmic monsters – each estimated to be around 50 million suns in size – were discovered more than 13 billion light-years away, at a time just 740 million years after … Read more
It’s been 15 years since NASA’s groundbreaking Hubble Space Telescope was last serviced by astronauts. And the aging observatory, which has been orbiting our planet in low orbit since 1990, is looking a little worse for wear. Persistent technical problems have forced teams to halt scientific activities time and time again. That’s why billionaire space … Read more