Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
Disk around Star May Be Warped by Unseen Planet
-
Similar Topics
-
-
By European Space Agency
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured compelling evidence of a planet with a mass similar to Saturn orbiting the young nearby star TWA 7.
If confirmed, this would represent Webb’s first direct image discovery of a planet, and the lightest planet ever seen with this technique.
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Video: 02:08:03 ESA’s Living Planet Symposium, one of the world’s leading Earth observation conferences, opened today in Vienna. The plenary session began at 10:30 CEST and included addresses from ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes Simonetta Cheli, as well as Margit Mischkulnig, from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Innovation.
There were video addresses from President of Austria, Alexander van der Bellen, Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure Republic of Austria Peter Hanke and the EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius. Representatives of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, ECMWF, IPCC, Eumetsat, Nordic Bildung and ETH Zurich also spoke during the opening session.
The first images from Biomass, ESA’s forest mission, launched earlier this year, were also presented during the opening plenary.
More than 6500 participants from almost 120 countries signed up to attend the event. With more than 4200 scientific presentations and posters, the symposium provides a forum and meeting point for scientists, academics and space industry representatives, as well as students and citizens.
The Living Planet Symposium takes place every three years and this year the focus is ‘from observation to climate action and sustainability for Earth’. Held in the Austrian capital over five days from today to 27 June, participants can take part in discussions on how we can work together in the fields of Earth science and with the Earth observation industry to ensure robust data and promote effective climate action to address the environmental crisis, with presentations also on new trends in Earth observation.
Watch more videos from the Living Planet Symposium 2025.
View the full article
-
By USH
Evidence points to the existence of a massive planet once located between Mars and Jupiter, known to some as Maldek. This ancient world is believed to have had a large moon, complete with oceans, an atmosphere, and possibly even life, orbiting it for millions of years.
Maldek is thought to have once been home to a highly advanced humanoid civilization before meeting a cataclysmic end, likely the result of either internal collapse, through nuclear war, technological abuse, or spiritual decline, or an external force, whether natural or engineered. Its destruction scattered debris across the solar system, forming what we now know as the asteroid belt.
As for its large moon, it was cast adrift and eventually settled into a new orbit around the Sun. Today, we know that moon as Mars.
This theory sheds light on several of Mars’ mysteries: the stark contrast between its two hemispheres, the presence of tidal bulges typically seen in moons, and the unusual nuclear isotopes in its soil, matching those produced by atomic explosions.
For decades, government scientists have suppressed this information. But the truth remains, etched into planetary scars, buried beneath ancient monuments, and encoded in the mathematical patterns of our solar system’s violent past.
Additional: According to some alternative theories, a remnant of Maldek’s civilization escaped the planet’s cataclysmic destruction, seeking refuge on Mars, a world that once pulsed with life and bore a striking resemblance to Earth. For a time, they thrived. But Mars, too, would not remain untouched. Whether through the slow unraveling of its atmosphere or the lingering shadows of interplanetary war, Mars fell into decline. And so, the survivors journeyed again, this time to Earth. Shrouded in mystery, their presence may have shaped early human consciousness, remembered through the ages as ancient gods or sky beings.
View the full article
-
By NASA
Explore Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Webb’s Blog Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Webb’s First Images Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read NASA’s Webb Rounds Out Picture of Sombrero Galaxy’s Disk
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s new image of the famous Sombrero galaxy in near-infrared wavelengths shows dust from the outer ring blocking stellar light from the inner portions of the galaxy. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI After capturing an image of the iconic Sombrero galaxy at mid-infrared wavelengths in late 2024, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now followed up with an observation in the near-infrared. In the newest image, the Sombrero galaxy’s huge bulge, the tightly packed group of stars at the galaxy’s center, is illuminated, while the dust in the outer edges of the disk blocks some stellar light.
Image A: Sombrero Galaxy (NIRCam)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s new image of the famous Sombrero galaxy in near-infrared wavelengths shows dust from the outer ring blocking stellar light from the inner portions of the galaxy. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Studying galaxies like the Sombrero at different wavelengths, including the near-infrared and mid-infrared with Webb, as well as the visible with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, helps astronomers understand how this complex system of stars, dust, and gas formed and evolved, along with the interplay of that material.
When compared to Hubble’s visible light image, the dust disk doesn’t look as pronounced in the new near-infrared image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. That’s because the longer, redder wavelengths of infrared light emitted by stars slip past dust more easily, so less of that stellar light is blocked. In the mid-infrared image, we actually see that dust glow.
Image B: Sombrero Galaxy (NIRCam/MIRI)
The Sombrero galaxy is split diagonally in this image: near-infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are at the left, and mid-infrared observations from Webb are at the right. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI The Sombrero galaxy is located about 30 million light-years away from Earth at the edge of the Virgo galaxy cluster, and has a mass equal to about 800 billion Suns. This galaxy sits “edge on” to us, meaning we see it from its side.
Studies have indicated that hiding behind the galaxy’s smooth dust lane and calming glow is a turbulent past. A few oddities discovered over the years have hinted this galaxy was once part of a violent merger with at least one other galaxy.
The Sombrero is home to roughly 2,000 globular clusters, or collections of hundreds of thousands of old stars held together by gravity. Spectroscopic studies have shown the stars within these globular clusters are unexpectedly different from one another.
Stars that form around the same time from the same material should have similar chemical ‘fingerprints’ – for example, the same amounts of elements like oxygen or neon. However, this galaxy’s globular clusters show noticeable variation. A merger of different galaxies over billions of years would explain this difference.
Another piece of evidence supporting this merger theory is the warped appearance of the galaxy’s inner disk.
While our view is classified as “edge on,” we’re actually seeing this nearly edge on. Our view six degrees off the galaxy’s equator means we don’t see it directly from the side, but a little bit from above. From this view, the inner disk appears tilted inward, like the beginning of a funnel, instead of flat.
Video A: Sombrero Galaxy Fade (Visible, Near-Infrared, Mid-Infrared)
This video compares images of the Sombrero galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104). The first image shows visible light observed by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The second is in near-infrared light and shows NASA’s Webb Space Telescope’s look at the galaxy using NIRCam (Near-Infrared Instrument). The final image shows mid-infrared light observed by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument).
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI The powerful resolution of Webb’s NIRCam also allows us to resolve individual stars outside of, but not necessarily at the same distance as, the galaxy, some of which appear red. These are called red giants, which are cooler stars, but their large surface area causes them to glow brightly in this image. These red giants also are detected in the mid-infrared, while the smaller, bluer stars in the near-infrared “disappear” in the longer wavelengths.
Also in the NIRCam image, galaxies of diverse shapes and colors are scattered throughout the backdrop of space. The variety of their colors provides astronomers with clues about their characteristics, such as their distance from Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/webb
Downloads
Click any image to open a larger version.
View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Hannah Braun – hbraun@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Related Information
Article: Types of Galaxies
Video: Different types of galaxies
Article: Sombrero Galaxy’s Halo Suggests Turbulent Past
More Images: Images of the Sombrero Galaxy in different types of light
Video: Sonification of Sombrero Galaxy images
More Webb News
More Webb Images
Webb Science Themes
Webb Mission Page
Related For Kids
What is the Webb Telescope?
SpacePlace for Kids
En Español
Ciencia de la NASA
NASA en español
Space Place para niños
Keep Exploring Related Topics
James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
Galaxies
Galaxies Stories
Universe
Share
Details
Last Updated Jun 02, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Science & Research Spiral Galaxies The Universe View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.