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Jwst

All articles tagged with #jwst

science21 hours ago•9 min saved

JWST Discovers a Black Hole Star Buried in Hydrogen at Cosmic Dawn

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope spotted MoM-BH*-1, a compact, red, ultra-bright source from just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang that is too luminous for nuclear fusion. The leading model places a ~100,000-solar-mass black hole inside a dense hydrogen envelope, with accretion energy reprocessed by the surrounding gas to produce star-like light. If confirmed, this “black hole star” could reveal how massive black holes grow in the early universe and help explain JWST’s mysterious little red dots.

via SciTechDaily|

#astronomy #black-holes #cosmic-dawn

space-and-astronomy4 days ago•48 min saved

Dense mega-Earth GJ 523b challenges planetary norms with thin atmosphere

Astronomers have identified GJ 523b, a dense 'mega-Earth' about 2.5 times Earth in size and around 23 times as massive, with a surprisingly thin atmosphere. Discovered by NASA’s TESS and examined with the WIYN telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, the planet’s high density and lack of a thick gaseous envelope defy simple formation models, leading researchers to speculate that extreme heat or a past planetary collision stripped away much of its atmosphere and to push for a clearer definition of the Mega-Earth category.

via Yahoo|

#atmosphere-loss #exoplanets #gj-523b

space-and-astronomy6 days ago•55 min saved

Triple black holes in a distant galaxy reveal rapid early-universe growth

Astronomers using the JWST have identified three active black holes in the distant galaxy J0148-4214, about 12.5 billion light-years away. Two lie at the core (80 million and 600,000 solar masses) and are 620 light-years apart, while a third, ~2 million solar masses, sits ~5,500 light-years away and may merge with the pair or escape. The system supports rapid black-hole growth in the early universe via mergers and foreshadows future low-frequency gravitational-wave detections by space-based observatories like LISA.

via Yahoo|

#black-holes #galaxy-mergers #gravitational-waves

science7 days ago•5 min saved

Water and Dust Survive Near the Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole, JWST Finds

JWST’s mid-infrared study of the inner parsec around the Milky Way’s Sagittarius A* detects water and dust being expelled by the dying AGB star IRS 3, showing that star-produced material can endure in the harsh galactic-center environment. Models suggest IRS 3 formed farther out and migrated inward, continuing to enrich its surroundings with a bright, long-lived stellar wind; the work demonstrates that molecular material can survive near a supermassive black hole and was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

via ScienceAlert|

#dust #jwst #milky-way-center

space8 days ago•9 min saved

Possible Saturn-mass planet near Alpha Centauri A remains unconfirmed despite Webb hints

The James Webb Space Telescope briefly detected a faint source near Alpha Centauri A in 2024 (S1) that could be a Saturn-mass planet in the system’s habitable zone, but follow-up observations in 2025 found no comparable signal. Two 2025 papers combine imaging tests with millions of orbital simulations and conclude a real planet remains plausible, though not proven: if real, it would be a gas giant ~90–150 Earth masses orbiting around 1–2 AU with a high eccentricity, and could have slipped behind Webb’s coronagraphic blind spots between observations. Confirmation will require a future recovery of the signal or independent measurements; for now the evidence is intriguing but not conclusive.

via spacedaily.com|

#alpha-centauri-a #exoplanet #gas-giant

science11 days ago•3 min saved

Cosmic Oddity: JWST Identifies a One-in-a-Billion Black-Hole Star

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified MoM-BH*-1, a rare hybrid object that blends a star-like gas cloud with a black hole about 100,000 solar masses. It emits energy far exceeding typical stellar formations and is about 100 billion times brighter than the average star, even outshining its host galaxy. This “black-hole star” could explain the little red dots seen in JWST images from the dawn of the universe and may shed light on how the first cosmic structures formed; researchers will continue studying its size and atmospheric composition with JWST starting in December.

via nypost.com|

#black-hole-star #cosmology #early-universe

science12 days ago•159 min saved

JWST uncovers a distant naked black-hole-star, offering clues to the little red dots

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope’s Mirage/MoM survey discovered MoM-BH*-1, the farthest known naked black-hole-star. Its accretion-powered glow lights a surrounding gas cloud, and its proximity to a young, high-redshift galaxy suggests such objects could masquerade as faint galaxies in JWST observations. This finding supports the idea that black-hole stars may be key engines in the early universe and could illuminate why the JWST images show the mysterious little red dots; the team estimates MoM-BH*-1 could eventually merge with its host galaxy in about 100 million years, potentially shedding light on the birth of quasars.

via Space|

#black-hole-star #early-universe #jwst

science12 days ago•52 min saved

Gas-drenched black hole at cosmic dawn hints at rapid early growth

New JWST observations reveal MoM-BH*-1, a z≈7.76 source with an extreme Balmer break, broad Hβ emission, and strong Balmer absorption best explained by a supermassive black hole enshrouded in an extremely dense, nearly dust-free gas envelope. The envelope (nH ~10^11 cm−3, NH ~10^25.8 cm−2, turbulence ~500 km/s) produces a UV-weak, Balmer-break-dominated spectral energy distribution with little host-galaxy light, suggesting possible super-Eddington accretion. This implies rapid black-hole growth in the early universe and cautions that Balmer-line widths under such conditions may overestimate BH masses by up to ~2 dex; the host is a faint, low-mass dwarf galaxy. The finding links to the broader population of “little red dots” and challenges conventional SMBH growth models at cosmic dawn.

via Nature|

#balmer-break #black-hole #cosmic-dawn

space-and-spaceflight12 days ago•18 min saved

Astronomers Uncover a Black Hole Star in the Early Universe

Nature-published researchers report the discovery of MoM-BH*-1, a newly identified object that resembles a giant star but radiates energy like a black hole, wrapped in dense gas and outshining its host galaxy. Scientists label it a “black hole star,” a find that could illuminate how the first supermassive black holes formed and connect to the JWST-detected little red dots from the cosmic dawn; further JWST observations are planned to constrain its mass and atmospheric properties.

via Gizmodo|

#black-hole-star #early-universe #galaxies

science17 days ago•5 min saved

JWST uncovers a fresh gravitational arc, hinting at galaxies from the universe’s early era

Astronomers using JWST/NIRCam data from the RELICS program identified a bright, elongated gravitational arc behind the galaxy cluster MACS J0308.9+2645 (A1). Initial analysis suggested a redshift around z~4.4 with a magnification of ~7, placing it in the universe’s first billion years, but corrected photometry indicates a lower redshift near z~1.4, and a second, fainter candidate (A2) was found. The result implies many more early-universe galaxies may lie in Webb’s public data, and it underscores the need for independent verification and updated lens models due to potential photometry biases for extended sources.

via Universe Today|

#early-universe #gravitational-lensing #jwst

space20 days ago•2 min saved

Neptune’s moons bear water-rich clues from a catastrophic past

JWST observations detect magnesium-rich phyllosilicates on Neptune’s inner moons Larissa and Galatea, implying subsurface ice and past interior heating before their destruction, while Proteus lacks these minerals; a proposed scenario suggests Neptune’s original moon system was destroyed by Triton’s capture, scattering materials into a debris disk that formed rings and current moons, with an unidentified hydrated mineral common to all three moons and an alternative hypothesis that it came from a tidally disrupted Kuiper Belt object.

via futura-sciences.com|

#hydrated-minerals #jwst #neptune

space24 days ago•11 min saved

Glimpse of a Hidden Giant: Beta Pictoris d Emerges from Archival Data

Astronomers have directly imaged a faint gas giant, Beta Pictoris d, orbiting the young nearby star Beta Pictoris—first seen in archival VLT SPHERE data and independently confirmed by JWST. Weighing roughly 2.4 Jupiter masses and orbiting at about 26 AU with a ~91-year period, it is the faintest exoplanet imaged from the ground (100x fainter than Beta Pictoris b). JWST spectra revealed methane, carbon monoxide, and water vapor, helping distinguish the planet from the debris disk. This discovery makes Beta Pictoris the second system with three directly imaged planets and offers a valuable lab for studying planet formation and disk sculpting, with ELT prospects for uncovering more hidden worlds.

via SciTechDaily|

#beta-pictoris-d #beta-pictoris-system #direct-imaging

science25 days ago•5 min saved

JWST Discovers Semi-Heavy Water on a Faraway World, Revealing Its Water History

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope detected semi-heavy water (HDO) in the atmosphere of the hot exoplanet WASP-39b and measured an elevated deuterium-to-hydrogen (D/H) ratio. This suggests WASP-39b’s water may have originated beyond the snow line and/or been shaped by atmospheric escape, offering insights into the planet’s formation and chemical history. WASP-39b is not habitable, but such isotopologue measurements help illuminate how giant planets acquire and lose water over time.

via ScienceAlert|

#deuterium-to-hydrogen-ratio #exoplanet-formation #jwst

space28 days 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

space29 days ago•7 min saved

JWST Reveals Filament Recycling That Feeds Supermassive Black Holes

New JWST observations of NGC 4696 show an 800-light-year rotating gas disk fed by filaments that cool and funnel gas toward the central black hole; magnetic fields transfer angular momentum, enabling accretion, while the disk’s wobble shifts jets to heat gas more evenly, illustrating a self-sustaining cosmic recycling that lets black holes keep growing and may occur in other clusters.

via WIRED|

#accretion #black-holes #galaxy-evolution