Tag

Nirspec

All articles tagged with #nirspec

science2 months ago•6 min saved

Webb Probes Ancient Origins of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope used its NIRSpec instrument to map the chemical makeup of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it moved away from the Sun, finding unusually high deuterium (about 30x that of solar-system comets) and only traces of carbon-13, which together point to formation in a very cold, early galactic environment roughly 10–12 billion years ago during the universe’s cosmic noon; 3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar visitor and the findings, published in Nature, shed light on the conditions for planet formation and potentially prebiotic chemistry beyond our solar system.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#3iatlas #deuterium #interstellar-comet

space6 months ago•1 min saved

Webb Telescope Maps Uranus’ Ionosphere in 3D

The European Space Agency reports that the James Webb Space Telescope used the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to study Uranus’ upper atmosphere, focusing on its ionosphere up to about 5,000 km above the clouds and creating a full-rotation 3D map to probe the planet’s magnetic field and auroras. The measurements show the hottest regions at roughly 3,000–4,000 km altitude with ion densities around 1,000 km, offering new insights into Uranus’ enigmatic magnetosphere and ice-giant atmospheres more broadly.

via extremetech.com|

#auroras #ionosphere #magnetosphere

astronomy3 years ago•5 min saved

Refined Redshifts of Distant Galaxies with JWST Spectrometer.

The NIRSpec instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has refined the redshift estimates of distant galaxies, including Maisie's Galaxy, which was revealed to be at a redshift of 11.4, and CEERS-93316, which was initially thought to be at a record-breaking redshift of 16.4 but was found to be a dusty galaxy at a redshift of 4.9. The study highlights the need for spectroscopic confirmation of galaxy redshifts and provides insight into the early universe and the development of galaxies in terms of their star formation.

via physicsworld.com|

#astronomy #early-universe #galaxies