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What it is : An open clustering of wiz call NGC 346
Where it is:210,000 faint - years aside , in the constellation Tucana
An image of NGC 346 from the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope (right).
When it was shared : Dec. 16 , 2024
Why it ’s so special : ThisJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST ) simulacrum has helped stargazer unpick a long - stand mystery story about how planets form . The closed book arose more than 20 years ago , when theHubble Space Telescopespotted the universe ’s honest-to-goodness jazz planet , which formed earlier in the universe ’s history than scientist thought was possible .
Starsform in heavy cloudsof gaseous state and rubble call molecular clouds . Any remain accelerator pedal and dust gather in disk around the maven . planet , in turn , form from these disc . Scientists believed that other maven did n’t have planet because there was a lack of sonorous chemical element , such as C and atomic number 26 , which are created by stars ' nuclear fusion and supernova expiry . They thought that these heavy elements were essential for major planet - form disks to subsist long enough for planets to mould .
come to : infinite photo of the workweek : The tilted spiral galaxy that shoot Hubble 23 year to capture
But in 2003 , Hubbledetecteda monumental planet revolve an ancient star in the M4 globular cluster , which is about 5,600 short - twelvemonth remote in theMilky Way . Globular clusters are extremely old and , therefore , lack heavier elements . The exoplanet is about 13 billion days old , which suggests that planets may have formed before in the universe ’s history than scientist conceive was potential . But astronomer were unsure just how it form so early in the macrocosm ’s history .
To see more about the early universe , uranologist use proxies that have similar conditions to ancient galaxies . One such proxy is the star cluster NGC 346 , a lead - spring region within the modest Magellanic Cloud ( SMC ) , a gnome galaxy that orb the Milky Way . Like early galaxies , the SMC lacks heavier elements and is made up mainly of hydrogen and atomic number 2 .
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When astronomers pointed Hubble at NGC 346 , they found sign that satellite - form disk existed around stars for 20 million to 30 million years — about 10 sentence longer than possibility presage such disks could survive . However , the star sign were faint , so astronomers need further cogent evidence .
In 2023 , JWSTused the unprecedented sensitiveness and resolving provide by its Near Infrared Spectrograph and Mid - Infrared Instrument to confirm the universe of long - last major planet - forming disks in NGC 346 .
The findings , publishedDec . 16 , 2024 , in The Astrophysical Journal , confirm the Hubble resultant role and hint that the want of heavier chemical element mayslow the star ’s power to spread its planet - forming disk — give planets more clock time to form . Another theory is that the initial gas swarm from which the hotshot forms might be big , resulting in a more massive , longer - live disc .
For more lofty quad images , moderate out ourSpace Photo of the Week archive .
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