She James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) left scientists and the general public speechless with stunning images of distant galaxies and its ability to discover many black holes in the universe. His latest discovery about the indisputable search for life on a moon of Jupiter attracted a lot of attention, as most of his discoveries do.
However the JWST It doesn’t stop there, ever It also challenges our understanding of how planets are born from the swirling gas and dust around young stars..
How worlds form, according to the James Webb Space Telescope
Imagine going back in time 4.6 billion years ago and watching the birth of our own solar system. That’s him JWST Scientists are allowed to do so by studying “protoplanetary” disks, similar to what surrounded the young Sun in its early days. These disks are the birthplaces of planets, where material clumps and mixes to form worlds.
One of the most exciting revelations of JWST es its ability to explain how water reaches rocky planets to form within these disks. Looking at four stars in particular, the scientists discovered that two of the disks contain a lot of cold water, close enough to the star to keep the water liquid, rather than frozen.
This supports an old theory that suggests that small ice particles can move from the outside of the disk to the inside, releasing water as they heat up.
This supply of water may be essential for the formation of planets near the star, providing the necessary ingredients for their growth.
“For the first time we have measurements of how much water was supplied to that region,” explained Andrea Banzatti, an astronomer at Texas State University in San Marcos.
In addition, the JWST It was also revealed that a protoplanetary disk orbiting a star called J160532 contains an unusual amount of carbon. This raises the possibility that planets formed in these types of disks will be very different from the rocky planets we know in our own solar system, such as Venus, Earth and Mars.
Undoubtedly, the James Webb Space Telescope It changes our view of how worlds are born. Their groundbreaking observations shed light on the fundamental processes that give rise to planets and open new doors to our understanding of the universe.
she JWST has left an indelible mark on space exploration and promises to continue to reveal exciting cosmic secrets in the future.