KOSMOSEST #2: The Birthplaces of New Stars
Learn about the telltale signatures of newborn stars, and take a look at the backstage of astrophysics discoveries.
Welcome to the second issue of KOSMOSEST!
In today’s newsletter, I mix informational space bites with my own work: there are exciting news to share!
Pillars of Creation
Having the most advanced astrophotography at hand to explain physics concepts, let’s start with a look at the majestic star forming pillars below. These pillars of the Eagle Nebula were imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, and revisited by the largest space telescope, the JWST (joint project if NASA/ESA/CSA). Published on Oct 19th, there’s no doubt this image replaced many home screen wallpapers around the world.
You can see the Near-Infrared Camera’s (NIRCam) ability to peer through dust when comparing the two images: the pillars have almost a semi-transparent look to them in near-infrared light as seen by JWST. Also, note the mind-boggling number of stars that came into view. If you’d like to further spot the differences, check out this slider tool by ESA.
The Red, Lava-Like Areas
The image is impressive as a whole, but also contains troves of compelling details. In particular, bright red, lava-like areas stand out. What are they?
A formation of a new star leaves behind gaseous dusty matter, which surrounds the newly born star in the form of a disk.
It is from these disks that planets start to form, until eventually making up a planetary system (like our solar system).
A by-product of the star formation process are supersonic jets, created due to the infall of material from disks to the centre; their exact mechanisms are still being studied though.
When these jets collide with clouds of hydrogen gas—like these pillars—it creates shocks and causes the gas to radiate. That results in a red glow.
For astronomers, the red glow (observed through specific emission lines in spectra) is an excellent way to trace shocks from young stellar objects.
The Backstage of Astrophysics
When new data of an astrophysical object is acquired with fancy equipment, an astronomer (or a team of astronomers) has first justified the importance of studying that object. This justification is pitched through an online proposal for telescope time and evaluated by a committee, who decides the telescope’s observing schedule.
A proposal needs to explain why the proposed observation should be carried out in terms of science: does it answer any important scientific questions? How does a specific instrument help to answer these questions?
Then there are the technical details: justification for how much time is requested to observe the target, Field of View size in the sky, the wavelength of measurements, and optical tools for that, the ideal conditions weather wise, and more.
I’m thrilled to share that my first proposal for telescope time as the Principal Investigator has been accepted!
This proposal came together with the input from my advisor and collaborators, and allows us to acquire observations with a brand new instrument on the VLT, Very Large Telescope—perhaps the most to-the-point name given to a telescope. More on this in the next newsletters.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this look into the universe.
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Mari-Liis 🇪🇪 "Marie" 🌍
Astrophysics Researcher, Science Communicator