The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been fully calibrated and operational for over six months now. The incredible images it has returned, rich with eye-popping detail, tend to make the news, but the JWST has also made a number of pivotal contributions to our understanding of the cosmos.
As part of the first round of science observation programmes, JWST has been observing transiting exoplanets. This programme was proposed and led by three principal investigators: Natalie Batalha at the NASA Ames Research Center, Jacob Bean at the University of Chicago, and Kevin Stevenson at the Space Telescope Science Institute. But the particular research paper I'm reporting on here involved some 80-odd co-authors - it represents a phenomenal collaborative effort of planetary scientists.
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Could We Find Aliens by Looking for Their Solar Panels?- Designed to reflect ultraviolet and infrared, the panels have a unique fingerprint
Researchers searching for life beyond Earth spend a lot of time thinking about what telltale signs might be detectable astronomically. Forms of unambiguous evidence for the presence of life on another world are known as biosignatures. By extension, techno signatures are indicators of activity by intelligent, civilisation-building life.
Antimatter- In our continuing series, Govert Schilling looks at antimatter, the strange counterpart to most of the matter filling our Universe
Particles and corresponding antiparticles are very much alike, except they have opposite electrical charges. For instance, the antiparticle of the electron - known as the positron - has the same tiny mass, but while electrons carry a negative electrical charge, positrons are positively charged.
Where Have All The Milky Way's Early Stars Gone?- Our Galaxy has a curious lack of pristine stars
The Big Bang produced a Universe filled almost exclusively with hydrogen and helium; all other elements - what astronomers call metals - were produced by stars, supernovae and everything that happens later. So if you can pick out a pristine star with no metals polluting it from among the billions in the Milky Way, then you are likely to have a star dating from our Galaxy's earliest days.
Inside The Sky At Night - Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST
Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST. In July's Sky at Night, we discovered what she's learned since then.
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