![]() ![]() One transient in particular captured the attention of astronomers, a star system they have nicknamed “Mothra,” the titular giant monster of a 1961 Japanese film. Yan is lead author of one study describing the findings that has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. We can see transients everywhere,” said Haojing Yan, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Missouri. “We’re calling MACS0416 the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, both because it’s so colorful and because of these flickering lights we find within it. The transients include 12 stars or star systems and two supernovas in galaxies that were amplified using gravitational lensing. Gravity essentially warps and amplifies the light of distant galaxies in the background of whatever is doing the magnifying, enabling observations of otherwise invisible celestial features. This cosmic effect occurs when closer objects - such as the galactic clusters - act like a magnifying glass for distant objects. Within the galactic clusters’ field of view, Webb helped astronomers identify 14 transients, all of which were visible due to gravitational lensing. ‘Puzzling’ discovery spotted in new images from NASA mission’s asteroid flyby The new Webb observations were used to search for objects that change in brightness over time, called transients. “The whole picture doesn’t become clear until you combine Webb data with Hubble data,” Windhorst said. The red galaxies are more distant, best detected by Webb in infrared light. Blue-hued galaxies are the closest, bursting with star formation and easily seen in visible light by Hubble. The colors in the new image, released Thursday, are used to indicate distance. Windhorst is the principal investigator of the PEARLS, or Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science, program that conducted the Webb observations. “We are building on Hubble’s legacy by pushing to greater distances and fainter objects,” said Rogier Windhorst, regents professor in Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, in a statement. Given the distance between Earth and the objects from the early days of the universe, when telescopes such as Webb observe this light, it’s effectively like looking into the past. ![]() Telescopes spot the oldest and most distant black hole formed after the big bangĪ light-year, equivalent to 5.88 trillion miles, is how far a beam of light travels in a year. NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/CXC/SAO/Ákos Bogdán/L. These images show the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 that UHZ1 is located behind, in X-rays from Chandra and infrared data from Webb, as well as close-ups of the black hole host galaxy UHZ1. This result may explain how some of the first supermassive black holes in the universe formed. ![]() X-ray emission is a telltale signature of a growing supermassive black hole. Astronomers found the most distant black hole ever detected in X-rays (in a galaxy dubbed UHZ1) using the Chandra and Webb space telescopes. ![]()
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