File:Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud (NIRCam, NIRSpec, and MIRI Spectra) (2023-106-01GQ5MDTHBQTEMYNRAQ9730PDC).png
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Summary
[edit]DescriptionChamaeleon I Dark Cloud (NIRCam, NIRSpec, and MIRI Spectra) (2023-106-01GQ5MDTHBQTEMYNRAQ9730PDC).png |
English: Astronomers have taken an inventory of the most deeply embedded ices in a cold molecular cloud to date. They used light from a background star, named NIR38, to illuminate the dark cloud called Chamaeleon I. Ices within the cloud absorbed certain wavelengths of infrared light, leaving spectral fingerprints called absorption lines. These lines indicate which substances are present within the molecular cloud.
These graphs show spectral data from three of the James Webb Space Telescope’s instruments. In addition to simple ices like water, the science team was able to identify frozen forms of a wide range of molecules, from carbon dioxide, ammonia, and methane, to the simplest complex organic molecule, methanol. In addition to the identified molecules, the team found evidence for molecules more complex than methanol (indicated in the lower-right panel). Although they didn't definitively attribute these signals to specific molecules, this proves for the first time that complex molecules form in the icy depths of molecular clouds before stars are born. The upper panels and lower-left panel all show the background star’s brightness versus wavelength. A lower brightness indicates absorption by ices and other materials in the molecular cloud. The lower-right panel displays the optical depth, which is essentially a logarithmic measure of how much light from the background star gets absorbed by the ices in the cloud. It is used to highlight weaker spectral features of less abundant varieties of ice. |
Date | 23 January 2023 (upload date) |
Source | Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud (NIRCam, NIRSpec, and MIRI Spectra) |
Author | ILLUSTRATION: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) SCIENCE: Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI), Nicolas M. Crouzet (LEI), Zak Smith (The Open University), Melissa McClure (Leiden Observatory) |
Licensing
[edit]Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA, ESA and CSA. NASA Webb material is copyright-free and may be freely used as in the public domain without fee, on the condition that only NASA, STScI, and/or ESA/CSA is credited as the source of the material. This license does not apply if source material from other organizations is in use. The material was created for NASA by Space Telescope Science Institute under Contract NAS5-03127. Copyright statement at webbtelescope.org. For material created by the European Space Agency on the esawebb.org site, use the {{ESA-Webb}} tag. |
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Author | Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach |
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Credit/Provider | NASA, ESA, CSA, and J. Olmsted (STScI) |
Source | STScI |
Usage terms | |
Date and time of data generation | 11:00, 23 January 2023 |
Color space | sRGB |
Exif version | 2.31 |
Image width | 16,001 px |
Image height | 9,817 px |
Bits per component |
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Height | 9,817 px |
Width | 16,001 px |
Pixel composition | RGB |
Number of components | 3 |
Horizontal resolution | 300 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 300 dpi |
Contact information | outreach@stsci.edu
3700 San Martin Drive Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA |
Keywords | Chameleon I |
Date and time of digitizing | 03:47, 7 December 2022 |
Software used | Adobe Illustrator 27.1 (Windows) |
Date metadata was last modified | 08:56, 19 January 2023 |
File change date and time | 08:15, 19 January 2023 |
Unique ID of original document | uuid:65E6390686CF11DBA6E2D887CEACB407 |
Copyright status | Copyright status not set |