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Some new data for this nebula went public yesterday, and... it's different. The observations were almost all narrowband emission lines, and there were a lot of them. Five visible, four near-infrared, two wideband near-infrared. For this image I used only the visible filters. It turned out quite colorful, and quite unlike all the Hubble imagery that came before it. [O III] really wants to dominate the image, but I toned it down quite a bit with a technique I only use rarely, which is to group filters by the similarity the reveal within the object rather than trying to merge all filters into a single image.
If you would like to see the old image of this nebula, check here: flic.kr/p/fC7DwR
I was interested to see if any more structures were revealed especially in the near-infrared data, like the double rings (it's questionable they are really rings), but it's not nearly as apparent in these data as it was back in the old NICMOS data. The double rings, if that's what they are, are most pronounced in F212N, which is a molecular hydrogen filter. None of the filters for this image reveal quite the same structure that the F212N filter did.
The nebula expanded quite a bit in the two decades since the previous HST observations were taken. In terms of this image, the maximum movement amounted to around 8 pixels at WFC3/UVIS resolution (100% zoom of this image). All of the stars moved around, too. The new image is slightly higher resolution, but not much.
Explaining the processing further, I took the F673N, F487N, & F343N filters to make a 3-color image. I chose these because none of them was overwhelmingly brighter in any area than the other, but they all do still reveal delicate color separation. Next, I combined the F656N and F502N filters into a 2-color image. The signal for these two filters was much more intense, and they worked nicely together to reveal the fainter structures of the nebula, especially those faint shells emanating gently outward from the nebula in nearly circular formation. The 2-color combination is not especially colorful though, so I used it as a luminosity layer. Stars are always funky in narrowband imagery, so I removed all the stars from the 3-color image, leaving the 2-color luminosity layer to show them.
Data from the following proposal were used to create this image:
Luminosity:
WFC3/UVIS F656N + WFC3/UVIS F502N
Color:
Red: WFC3/UVIS F673N
Green: WFC3/UVIS F487N
Blue: WFC3/UVIS F343N
North is up.
Webb has revealed an exoplanet atmosphere as never seen before!
The telescope has revisited gas giant WASP-39 b to give us the first molecular and chemical profile of an exoplanet’s atmosphere, revealing the presence of water, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, sodium and potassium, as well as signs of clouds. This builds on Webb’s initial look at the planet back in August, which showed the first clear evidence of carbon dioxide in a planet outside our solar system. The latest findings bode well for Webb’s capability to investigate all types of exoplanets, including the atmospheres of smaller, rocky planets like those in the TRAPPIST-1 system.
We learn about exoplanet atmospheres by breaking their light into components and creating spectra. Think of a spectrum as a barcode. Elements and molecules have characteristic signatures in that “barcode” we can read.
This planet is what is known as a “hot Saturn” — a planet about as massive as Saturn but eight times closer in orbit around its star than Mercury is around the Sun. The data shown here is taken from 3 of Webb’s science instruments. Together, they mark a series of firsts in science, including the first detection of sulfur dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere. This, in turn, is the first concrete evidence of photochemistry — chemical reactions initiated by high-energy light, which are fundamental to life on Earth — on an exoplanet. Understanding the ratio of different elements in relation to each other also offers clues as to how the planet was formed.
Want to see the data in more detail and learn more? Head to the feature here: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-an-...
Download different versions of this graphic (and individual spectra) here: webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2022/060/01GJ3Q66...
Image credit: Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI)
Image description:
Graphic of the atmospheric composition of exoplanet WASP-39 b, showing 2 graphs and a background illustration of the planet and its star.
(Left side)
The top graph shows data from Webb’s NIRISS instrument, the bottom graph data from NIRSpec. Both graphs show the amount of light blocked on the y axis versus wavelength of light on the x axis. The y axes range from 2.00 percent (less light blocked) to 2.35 percent (more light blocked). The x axes range from less than 0.1 microns to 5.5 microns. Data points are plotted as white circles with gray error bars. A curvy blue line represents a best-fit model. The NIRISS data covers a range of about 0.5 to 3.0 microns and highlights the signatures of potassium, water and carbon monoxide in semi-transparent bars of varying colors. Potassium is gray, water is blue, and carbon monoxide is red. The NIRSpec data covers a range of about 2.5 to 5.25 microns. It highlights water and carbon monoxide in addition to sulfur dioxide in green and carbon dioxide in yellow.
(Right side)
The top graph shows data from Webb’s NIRCam instrument, the bottom graph data from NIRSpec. Both graphs show the amount of light blocked on the y axis versus wavelength of light on the x axis. The y axes range from 2.00 percent (less light blocked) to 2.35 percent (more light blocked). The x axes range from less than 0.1 microns to 5.5 microns. Data points are plotted as white circles with gray error bars. A curvy blue line represents a best-fit model. The NIRCam data covers a wavelength range of about 2.5 to 4.0 microns and highlights the signatures of water in a blue semi-transparent bar. The NIRSpec data covers a range of about 0.5 to 5.25 microns and highlights multiple signatures of water, in addition to sodium in a dark blue bar, carbon monoxide in red, carbon dioxide in light green, sulfur dioxide in dark green, and carbon dioxide in yellow.