Tag

Infrared Astronomy

All articles tagged with #infrared astronomy

science2 days ago•4 min saved

Infrared Archives Yield First Tangible Candidate for Planet Nine

Astronomers have identified a potential observational candidate for the hypothetical Planet Nine by analyzing decades-old infrared data. Terry Long Phan and colleagues compared surveys from the 1983 IRAS satellite and the 2006-2007 AKARI mission. After filtering millions of sources, they isolated one object that shifted 47.5 arcminutes over 23 years, consistent with a massive body located 500 to 700 astronomical units from the Sun. While not a definitive discovery, this faint point offers the first tangible target for follow-up observations.

via ZME Science|

#akari-satellite #infrared-astronomy #planet-nine

science4 days ago•1 min saved

Infrared Archives Yield First Potential Trace of Planet Nine

Astronomer Terry Long Phan identified a potential candidate for Planet Nine by analyzing 23-year gaps in infrared data from the IRAS and AKARI satellites. The object, which shifted 47.5 arcminutes, matches the predicted size and distance of a hypothetical ninth planet. While this is the first observational hint, confirmation requires follow-up observations to determine its exact orbit.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#astronomy #infrared-astronomy #iras

science7 days ago•118 min saved

NASA Advances PRIMA Far-Infrared Telescope to Phase B for 2033 Launch

NASA has selected the PRIMA mission to advance to Phase B development, making it the first project in the new 'Probe Explorer' class. Targeting a 2033 launch, the $1.2 billion observatory will use a 1.8-meter telescope to survey the universe in far-infrared light, bridging the observational gap between the James Webb Space Telescope and radio telescopes.

via Space|

#astrophysics #infrared-astronomy #nasa

space-and-spaceflight22 days ago•17 min saved

Roman Space Telescope Captures First Light on Its Deep-Space Mission

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope achieved first light with its 300-megapixel infrared Wide Field Instrument, confirming the instrument is operational and cooling; the telescope, on its way to the L2 point, will eventually provide wide, high-resolution infrared views to probe dark matter, cosmic expansion, and exoplanets, building on the legacies of Hubble and JWST.

via Gizmodo|

#first-light #infrared-astronomy #nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope

space22 days ago•120 min saved

JWST reveals ethereal star-forming cloud in IC 348

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured a stunning image of the star-forming region IC 348, about 1,000 light-years away, showing wisps of gas and dust where new stars are forming; the snapshot is part of a program to hunt for brown dwarfs—objects between planets and stars—using infrared light to spot them and understand how these faint objects form and vary across space.

via Space|

#brown-dwarfs #ic-348 #infrared-astronomy

science1 month ago•9 min saved

Webb Telescope Reveals Finer Details of the Lion Nebula and Its Dying Star

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured new infrared images of the Lion Nebula (NGC 2392) using its NIRCam and MIRI instruments, revealing clearer dust clumps and ionized gas around the dying star at the center. The infrared view, clearer than previous Hubble shots, shows how the gas and dust shell around a white dwarf is shaping the nebula over thousands of years as the star sheds its outer layers.

via ndtv.com|

#infrared-astronomy #james-webb-space-telescope #lion-nebula

space1 month ago•169 min saved

NASA's Roman Space Telescope Lifts Off to Chart Exoplanets and the Dark Cosmos

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral, carrying a wide-field infrared imager and the first active space-based coronagraph designed to directly image exoplanets. After a 90-day commissioning at the Sun-Earth L2 point, Roman will operate with other major observatories (Hubble, JWST, Euclid, Rubin) to survey huge swaths of the sky and study dark matter and dark energy, while generating an immense data stream (~500 terabytes per year). With a roughly $4 billion price tag, the mission was completed under budget and ahead of schedule, marking a major advance in space astronomy.

via Space|

#coronagraph #exoplanets #infrared-astronomy

science1 month ago•19 min saved

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Takes Flight to Chart the Cosmos

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched from Cape Canaveral aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a $4.3 billion infrared observatory that will map billions of galaxies, black holes, and planet-forming disks to probe dark energy and the universe’s history while hunting for new worlds.

via The New York Times|

#cosmology #exoplanets #infrared-astronomy

space1 month ago•4 min saved

Roman Space Telescope Aims for a Wide-Angle View of the Universe

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch Aug. 30 and will map the cosmos with a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble, thanks to its Wide Field Instrument and a 300-megapixel infrared camera, plus a coronagraph to spot exoplanets. Operating near the Sun-Earth L2 point, Roman will study dark energy, dark matter, and the abundance of planets, potentially observing more than a billion galaxies in its first five years and complementing the deep infrared work of JWST.

via USA Today|

#hubble-space-telescope #infrared-astronomy #james-webb-space-telescope

science1 month ago•4 min saved

Webb Dismisses Two Dyson Sphere Candidates as Background Galaxies

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, in Project Hephaistos, studied two M-dwarf stars previously flagged for potential Dyson Spheres and found the infrared excess arose from background galaxies, not megastructures; the two candidates are ruled out, highlighting the difficulty of technosignature searches and the potential for future higher-resolution infrared surveys in the 2030s to separate signals from foreground/background sources.

via Universe Today|

#dyson-sphere #infrared-astronomy #james-webb-space-telescope

space1 month ago•157 min saved

JWST Unveils Lion Nebula’s Infrared Mane in New Image

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released a new infrared image of the Lion Nebula (NGC 2392), revealing a glowing purple gas ‘mane’ surrounding a white-dwarf core. The view, built from JWST’s NIRCam and MIRI data, shows details unseen in prior images and confirms the nebula will continue to expand, with the lion’s face potentially fading over roughly 10,000 years. The central nose-like purple spot marks the dying star’s remnant powering the nebula.

via Space|

#infrared-astronomy #james-webb-space-telescope #lion-nebula

space2 months ago•10 min saved

Webb Telescope Turns Time Machine, Revealing Galaxies Moments After the Big Bang

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope uses its larger 6.5-meter mirror and infrared vision to peer back to the universe’s earliest epochs, capturing galaxies formed within a few hundred million years after the Big Bang and pushing the record beyond Hubble’s reach (e.g., MoM-z14 at ~13.5 billion years ago). Webb reveals a cosmic dawn that is brighter and more chemically evolved than pre‑Webb models predicted, with some galaxies seen just 50–300 million years after the Big Bang—reminding us that each image is both a snapshot of the present instrument and a window into a long-ago cosmos that has since evolved.

via spacedaily.com|

#cosmic-dawn #early-galaxies #infrared-astronomy

space2 months ago•131 min saved

NASA primes the Roman Space Telescope for a late-summer liftoff

NASA has fueled the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope for its Aug. 30 liftoff aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, nine months ahead of schedule and under budget. The hydrazine-fueled observatory is expected to generate over 500 terabytes of data per year and features a Wide Field Instrument that can image the infrared sky 50 times wider than JWST, enabling studies of dark matter, dark energy, and thousands of supernovae while guiding JWST's future targets. Roman will reach and operate at the L2 point powered by its propellant.

via Space|

#infrared-astronomy #lagrange-point-2 #nasa

space2 months ago•7 min saved

JWST Finds Two Dyson-Sphere Candidates Were Just Galaxies Aligned Behind Stars

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to test two strong Dyson-sphere candidates by hunting for the telltale mid-infrared waste heat that would accompany a megastructure around a star. After sifting through about five million Milky Way stars and confirming the most promising cases, JWST revealed that both candidates were actually distant galaxies almost perfectly aligned behind foreground stars, producing the infrared excess. One is a hot dust-obscured galaxy; the other a dusty starburst. While the false positives rule out these two Dyson-sphere interpretations, they refine search methods and lay groundwork for future telescopes with adaptive optics to separate stars from background galaxies.

via ScienceAlert|

#background-galaxies #dyson-sphere #infrared-astronomy

space2 months ago•20 min saved

NASA's Roman Space Telescope Aims to Unveil Dark Energy and Exoplanets

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch on Aug. 30 from Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy to a Sun-Earth L2 orbit. It will tackle dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets while conducting wide-field infrared surveys about 100 times larger than the Hubble Deep Field, potentially capturing light from up to a billion galaxies over a five-year mission (with possible extension). The spacecraft carries two instruments—the Wide Field Instrument and a Coronagraph—whose data will be released to the public immediately, and it will be named after NASA's first chief astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman, marking a milestone in women’s contributions to space science.

via upi.com|

#dark-energy #exoplanets #infrared-astronomy