NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope snapped a photo of a young star called Fomalhaut—and it managed to spot the extraordinary backdrop of a set of glowing dust belts surrounding a nearby young star.
Fomalhaut is located 25 light years away from Earth, in the constellation Pisces Austin’s . It’s one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and so it comes as no surprise that the world’s most powerful space telescope ever to be launched has managed to glimpse it looking like an orange nova surrounded by rings upon rings.
The rings themselves are an especially compelling part of Fomalhaut. They are filled with gas, dust, and debris that will eventually—give or take a few billion years—coalesce into planets and moons and other small bodies. The largest of the rings extends 14 billion miles away from its host star Some experts believe there is probably a planet or two already in orbit around the Fomalhaut, obscured by the bright light emphasized by the dust in the region.
There is, of course, one especially notable part of the image that you’ve undoubtedly already spotted: the gaping black spot in the center. That’s not an object that photobombed the picture. It’s simply a part of the image where no data was collected. One of the reasons the new image is so exquisite has to do with where Webb’s strengths lie. The telescope is specialized in observing the universe in infrared—which means it can pierce through obscuring matter to get a cleaner photo of objects.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
8 Amazing Things You Can See in the Night Sky Without a TelescopeFrom planets to phenomena, experts say these are some of the amazing things you can see in the night sky without a telescope.
Read more »
The Best Fashion Instagrams of the Week: Emily Ratajkowski, Nicola Peltz Beckham, and Dua LipaStyle stars like KendallJenner, EmRata, DuaLipa, and more took to Instagram to share behind-the-scenes snaps from the MetGala in this week's best fashion Instagrams. See them all here:
Read more »
Zero-Knowledge Privacy Startup Webb Protocol Raises $7MEXCLUSIVE: webbprotocol, which provides privacy-focused cross-chain transfers, has raised $7 million in funding co-led by polychaincap and Lemniscap. BrandyBetz reports
Read more »
Absolutely enormous asteroid belt discovered around a nearby starAstronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to spot strange asteroid belts around the nearby star Fomalhaut, along with evidence for at least three planets
Read more »
SF Giants Get Hooked Up With Dude Wipes After Players Get 'S***s' In MexicoThe Giants got hooked up with a ton of Dude Wipes after Logan Webb admitted most players were dealing with 'the s***s.'
Read more »
Rachel Webb, of Broadway's '& Juliet,' knows the show must go on. Some days, she’s why it does.On Tuesday, “& Juliet” was nominated for nine Tony awards, including “Best Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.” But little of that glory goes to Webb directly: She's an understudy.
Read more »