NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System
by NASA Webb Mission Team

Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system.

Now there is definitive evidence: Researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star 155 light-years away using detailed data known as spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. (The term water ice specifies its makeup, since many other frozen molecules are also observed in space, such as carbon dioxide ice, or “dry ice.”) In 2008, data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope hinted at the possibility of frozen water in this system.

“Webb unambiguously detected not just water ice, but crystalline water ice, which is also found in locations like Saturn’s rings and icy bodies in our solar system’s Kuiper Belt,” said Chen Xie, the lead author of the new paper and an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

All the frozen water Webb detected is paired with fine dust particles throughout the disk — like itsy-bitsy “dirty snowballs.” The results published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Astronomers have been waiting for this definitive data for decades. “When I was a graduate student 25 years ago, my advisor told me there should be ice in debris disks, but prior to Webb, we didn’t have instruments sensitive enough to make these observations,” said Christine Chen, a co-author and an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “What’s most striking is that this data looks similar to the telescope’s other recent observations of Kuiper Belt objects in our own solar system.”
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https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/another-first-nasa-webb-identifies-frozen-water-in-young-star-system/

* Artwork Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

#space #star #stellardisks #astroart #science #nature #NASA #ESA

The Star Trails of Kilimanjaro
* Credit & Copyright: Dan Heller

Explanation:
The night had no moon, but the stars were out. And camped at 16,000 feet on Mt. Kilimanjaro, photographer Dan Heller recorded this marvelous 3 1/2 hour long exposure. Here the landscape is lit mostly by the stars. Flashlights give the tents an erie internal radiance while the greenish glow from the distant city lights of Moshi, Tanzania filter through the clouds below. The view from this famous equatorial African mountain is toward the south, putting the South Celestial Pole close to the horizon on the far left, near the center of the graceful concentric star trail arcs. In the thin air and clear dark skies, even the ghostly Milky Way left a faint triangular glow as it swept across the middle of the dreamlike scene.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040911.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails Above Mauna Kea
* Credit & Copyright: Peter Michaud (Gemini Observatory), AURA, NSF

Explanation:
Is there a road to the stars? Possibly there are many, but the physical road pictured above leads up to the top of a dormant volcano that is a premier spot on planet Earth for observing stars and astronomical phenomena. At the top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea are some of the largest optical telescopes on Earth, including the Keck telescopes, Gemini, Subaru, CFHT, and the IRTF. Together, these 10-meter eyes have made many universe-redefining discoveries, including detailing that most of the universe is made not of familiar matter but of mysterious dark matter and dark energy. The above picture was compiled from over 150 one-minute exposures from a digital camera. During that time, the rotation of the Earth made the stars far in the distance appear to have long star trails. The foreground landscape was illuminated by the Moon.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051220.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Gemini South Star Trails
* Credit & Copyright: Elke Schulz

Explanation:
Stars seem to arc through southern skies in this surrealistic time exposure -- recorded before moonrise from the Gemini South Observatory, Cerro Pachon, Chile, Planet Earth. During the one hour 40 minute exposure camera and tripod were fixed, so the concentric star trails are a reflection of Earth's daily rotation about its axis. The view looks to the south and includes the Gemini telescope enclosure in the foreground. At the apparent center of the curving trails, the South Celestial Pole lies just off the upper left edge. Two faint, wide streaks track the Magellanic Clouds, satellites of the Milky Way Galaxy, while a meteor flashes throught the scene just left of the observatory.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060901.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails at 19,000 Feet
* Credit & Copyright: Serge Brunier

Explanation:
In myth, Atlas holds up the heavens, but in this stunning view a mountain appears to serve as the southern night sky pivots around a snowy peak. Recorded during a climbing expedition at an altitude above 19,000 feet (temperature -18 degrees C), the picture places the South Celestial Pole over the Andes mountain Ojos del Salado. Topping out at over 22,000 feet, the Ojos del Salado is a stratovolcano, the highest active volcano on planet Earth. The time exposure lasted for an hour, recording the graceful arcing star trails along with the rising Milky Way (left) and setting Magellanic clouds.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061202.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Running Messier's Marathon
* Credit & Copyright: Amir Hossein Abolfath

Explanation:
Gripped by an astronomical spring fever, many northern hemisphere stargazers embark on a Messier Marathon. Completing the marathon requires viewing all 110 objects in 18th century French astronomer Charles Messier's catalog in one glorious dusk-to-dawn observing run. As daunting as it sounds, there are often favorable weekend dates for completing the task that fall on nearly moonless nights near the March equinox. This colorful, six hour long time exposure of a group dedicated to running this year's Messier marathon includes celestial star trails along with terrestrial lighting trails from about 200 amateur astronomers. It was recorded from the isolated, ancient Bahram Palace in northern Iran's Kavir National Park. Astronomer and former Messier Marathon organizer for the ASIAC Babak Tafreshi offers this intriguing time-lapse movie (2MB wmv file) of the event.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080419.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails Over Oregon
* Credit & Copyright: Joshua Bury

Explanation:
As the Earth spins on its axis, the sky seems to rotate around us. This motion, called diurnal motion, produces the beautiful concentric trails traced by stars during time exposures. Partial-circle star trails are pictured above over Grants Pass, Oregon, USA last month. Near the middle of the circles is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), easily identified as the point in the sky at the center of all the star trail arcs. The star Polaris, commonly known as the North Star, made the very short bright circle near the NCP. About 12,000 years ago, the bright star Vega was the North Star, and in about 14,000 years, as the Earth's spin axis slowly continues to precess, Vega will become the North Star again.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090909.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Illuminated Cloud Trails Above Greece
* Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos

Explanation:
It may appear to be day, but it's night. Those wondrous orange streaks may appear to be rays from the setting Sun, but they're actually thin clouds illuminated by the Moon as they quickly streaked toward the distant horizon. The thick clouds on the far left may appear to have many layers, but actually they are just a few simple clouds captured on numerous separate exposures. What is surely true, though, is that the above time lapse image sequence was taken over two hours, about two weeks ago, in Sounio, Greece. Also, those really are star trails swirling around the north star Polaris on the upper right of the image. But what about the building in the foreground? It may appear to be a famous ancient structure, but it's actually a small deserted church built only last century.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100315.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails and Tajinastes
* Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel López

Explanation:
What bizarre planet do these alien creatures inhabit? It's only planet Earth, of course. In this well-composed scene, the sky is filled with star trails around the north celestial pole. A reflection of the Earth's daily rotation on its axis, star trails are familiar to photographers who fix their camera to a tripod and make long exposures of the night sky. But the imposing forms gazing skyward probably look strange to many denizens of Earth. Found on the Canary Island of Tenerife, they are red tajinastes, rare flowering plants that grow to a height of up to 3 meters. Hidden among the rocks of the volcanic terrain, tajinastes bloom in spring and early summer and then die after their seeds mature. On the distant horizon, below and left of the celestial pole, lies the Teide volcano.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100618.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails and the Captain's Ghost
* Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)

Explanation:
Look closely at this surreal nightscape. In the dreamlike scene, star trails arc over an old ship run aground on a beach near Gytheio, Peloponnesus in southern Greece. Could that be the captain's ghost haunting the beach, gazing forlornly at the decaying wreck, hovering over starlight reflected in still water? Actually, the ephemeral shape is the photographer. Instead of a single long exposure to record the motion of the stars as the Earth rotates on its axis, the picture is composed of 90 consecutive images, each exposure 90 seconds long. Digitally stacking the individual exposures then reconstructs the star trails. It also creates a ghostly, semi-transparent figure of the photographer who was captured standing on the beach in only one of the exposures.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101029.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails in the North
* Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hedén (Clear Skies, TWAN)

Explanation:
Pointing skyward, the wall of this ruined Viking church still stands after a thousand winters, near the town of Vallentuna, Sweden. The time exposure records the scene on December 14th as stars leave graceful arcing trails during a long night, reflecting planet Earth's daily rotation on its axis. The Earth's axis points toward Polaris, the North Star, near the center of the concentric trails. Welcomed by skygazers on this winter's night, a bright meteor from the annual Geminid meteor shower also flashes through the frame. The meteor cuts across the star trails just above the lower church wall. Contributing to the beautiful composition, meteor streak and church apex both gesture toward the North Celestial Pole.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101224.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Night and Day above Almost Planet Sounio
* Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)

Explanation:
Has a new planet been discovered? What is pictured above is a remarkable 24 hour mosaic surrounding a spot on Sounio, Greece, right here on planet Earth. Images taken at night compose the top half of the picture, with star trails lasting as long as 11 hours visible. Contrastingly, images taken during the day compose the bottom of the image, with the Sun being captured once every 15 minutes. The image center shows a Little Prince wide angle projection centered on the ground but including gravel, grass, trees, Saint John's church, clouds, crepuscular rays, and even a signature icon of the photographer -- the Temple of Poseidon. Meticulous planning as well as several transition shots and expert digital processing eventually culminated in this image documenting half of the final two days of last year.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110117.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Scintillating
* Image Credit & Copyright: Juergen Michelberger

Explanation:
On June 4, 2010 Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo, and wandering planet Mars were at about the same apparent brightness, separated on the sky by 1.5 degrees. An ingenious and creative 10 second exposure from a swinging camera recorded these gyrating trails of the celestial pairing. Can you tell which trail belongs to the star and which to the planet? Hint: atmospheric turbulence causes the image of the star to scintillate or vary in brightness and color more readily than the planet. The scintillation is more pronounced because the star is effectively a point source of light seen as a narrow bundle of light rays. Rapidly changing refraction due to turbulence along the line of sight affects different colors of light by different amounts and generally produces a twinkling effect for stars. But Mars is much closer than the distant stars and an extended source of light. Though tiny, its disk is seen as a bundle of light rays that is substantially broader compared to a star's and so, on average, less affected by small scale turbulence. The result is the varied, rainbow like trail for Regulus (left) and the steadier, consistently reddish trail for Mars.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110428.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Lewin's Challenge: 360 Degree Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Wienerroither (U. Wien)

Explanation:
You could be the first person ever to take a real single-exposure image like this. The above image from Vienna, Austria is not real in the sense that the 360 degree star trails in the sky appear only because of a digital trick. Real star trails observed above Vienna could never go 360 degrees around because the Sun would rise at some time during the exposure and dominate the frame. Star trails of any length occur because as the Earth spins on its axis, the sky seems to rotate around us. This motion, called diurnal motion, produces the beautiful concentric arcs traced by stars during long time exposures. Towards the middle of the above digitally stretched picture is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), easily identified as the point in the sky at the center of all the star trail arcs. The star Polaris, commonly known as the North Star, made the very short bright circle near the NCP. Walter Lewin, though, has asked APOD to pose this as a challenge to astrophotographers: create a real single-exposure image of a clear night sky that features 360 degree star trails. Of course, such an image would only be possible near the poles of our fair planet, because only there could a nighttime run for more than 24 hours.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110717.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

A Summer Night's Dream
* Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Rosinski

Explanation:
Fix your digital camera to a tripod, start a long series of exposures, and you too can record star trails. The concentric arcs traced by the stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis often produce dreamlike scenes in otherwise familiar situations. Fall asleep, though, and the results might surprise you. Setting up on a summer night, photographer Mike Rosinski began his exposures, initially planning to capture about 45-55 minutes worth of star trails from his yard in Hartland, Michigan, USA. But he dozed, only to awaken some 3 hours later to find his camera had continued to run until the battery died. Composing the resulting images, the graceful concentric star trails were expected, along with light from a late rising Moon glinting on windows. Still, as he slept on the warm night a blizzard of yellow streaks flooded the scene, not left by fairies but fireflies.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110805.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

MAGIC Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
Colorful star trails arc across the night in this surreal timelapse skyscape from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma. A reflection of the Earth's daily rotation on its axis, the star trails are also reflected in one of a pair of 17 meter diameter, multi-mirrored MAGIC telescopes. The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescope itself is intended to detect gamma rays - photons with over 100 billion times the energy of visible light. As the high energy gamma rays impact the upper atmosphere they produce air showers of high-energy particles. A fast camera monitoring the multi-mirrored surface records in detail brief flashes of optical light, called Cherenkov light, created by the air shower particles. Astronomers can then ultimately relate the optical flashes to cosmic sources of extreme gamma-rays.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111014.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

La Silla Star Trails North and South
* Image Credit & Copyright: Alexandre Santerne (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille / Observatoire de Haute Provence)

Explanation:
If the tripod is set up at ESO's La Silla Observatory, high in the Atacama desert of Chile, your star trails would look something like this. Spanning about 4 hours on the night of January 24, the image is actually a composite of 250 consecutive 1-minute exposures, looking toward the north. The North Celestial Pole, at the center of the star trail arcs, is just below the horizon in this southern hemisphere perspective. In the foreground, the polished 15-meter diameter dish antenna of the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (now decommissioned) shows star trails toward the south by reflection. Sweeping around the South Celestial Pole, the distorted arcs of those stars appear underneath the southern horizon in the focusing dish's inverted view. Right of the dish is the dome of the observatory's 3.6 meter telescope, home to the planet hunting HARPS spectrograph.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120202.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Teimareh Petroglyphs and Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
Engraved in rock, these ancient petroglyphs are abundant in the Teimareh valley, located in the Zagros Mountains of central Iran. They likely tell a tale of hunters and animals found in the middle eastern valley 6,000 years ago or more, etched by artists in a prehistoric age. In the night sky above are star trails etched by the rotation of planet Earth during the long composite exposure made with a modern digital camera. On the left, the center of the star trail arcs is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), the extension of Earth's axis into space. Polaris, the North Star, leaves the bright, short, stubby trail closest to the NCP. But when these petroglyphs were carved, Polaris would have made a long arc through the night. Since the Earth's rotation axis precesses like a wobbling top, 6,000 years ago the NCP was near the border of the constellations Draco and Ursa Major, some 30 degrees from its current location in planet Earth's sky.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120712.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

TOPIC>
"Stars On A Trail"

https://defcon.social/@grobi/114538103004457677

This thread about Star Trails is a long trip through the photo archives of NASA and ESA. Some of you have already seen my affinity for these archives, and in threads like this one I would like to make you understand my fascination. So if you like, follow me this time on my trail in all directions back and forward in time, past beautiful, special, extreme and even magical places, through a gallery of wonderful images, provided by great often volunteer astrophotographers who are generous enough to share their love and fascination for the stars around us ..

Please visit their websites, leave friendly and encouraging comments and maybe you will even have the opportunity to support them financially or logistically. On each of my posts you can find a link to the archive pages and many of the astrophotographers leave a link there or even a mail-address

I can hardly express my great gratitude for all the magic and beauty and I sincerely hope that these archives will be available to us for a long time to come! But you never know, with the power-obsessed destructive Lunatics these days..

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this trail with me.
>> https://defcon.social/@grobi/114538103004457677

* Music:
The Church - Under The Milky Way

** Video Credit:
Beatriz
@Beatriz_
https://www.youtube.com/@Beatriz_

*** Thumbnail Credit:
Mario Konang from Lower Saxonie Germany

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Grand Canyon Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
One of the natural wonders of planet Earth, the Grand Canyon in the American southwest stretches across this early evening skyscape. The digitally stacked sequence reveals the canyon's layers of sedimentary rock in bright moonlight. Exposed sedimentary rock layers range in age from about 200 million to 2 billion years old, a window to history on a geological timescale. A recent study has found evidence that the canyon itself may have been carved by erosion as much as 70 million years ago. With the camera fixed to a tripod while Earth rotates, each star above carves a graceful arc through the night sky. The concentric arcs are centered on the north celestial pole, the extension of Earth's rotation axis into space, presently near the bright star Polaris.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130303.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature