#infrared wavelengths

[thepastisalreadywritten]

With the addition of Saturn, the James Webb Space Telescope has finally captured all four of our Solar System's giant worlds.

JWST's observations of the ringed planet, taken on 25 June 2023, have been cleaned up and processed, giving us a spectacular view of Saturn's glorious rings, shining golden in the darkness.

By contrast, the disk of Saturn is quite dark in the new image, lacking its characteristic bands of cloud, appearing a relatively featureless dim brown.

This is because of the wavelengths in which JWST sees the Universe – near- and mid-infrared.

These wavelengths of light are usually invisible to the naked human eye, but they can reveal a lot.

For example, thermal emission – associated with heat – is dominated by infrared wavelengths.

When you're trying to learn about what's going on inside a planet wrapped in thick, opaque clouds, studying its temperature is a valuable way to go about it.

Some elements and chemical processes emit infrared light, too. Seeing the planets of the Solar System in wavelengths outside the narrow range admitted by our vision can tell us a lot more about what they have going on.

Saturn

As we saw last week, when we clapped eyes on the raw JWST Saturn images, the observations involved filters that dimmed the light of the planet, while allowing light from the rings and moons to shine brightly.

This is so a team led by planetary scientist Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester in the UK can study the rings and moons of Saturn in more detail.

They hope to identify new ring structures and, potentially, even new moons orbiting the gas giant.

The image above shows three of Saturn's moons, Dione, Enceladus and Tethys, to the left of the planet.

Although dim, the disk of the planet also reveals information about Saturn's seasonal changes.

The northern hemisphere is reaching the end of its 7-year summer, but the polar region is dark. An unknown aerosol process could be responsible.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere around the edges of the disk appears bright, which could be the result of methane fluorescence, or the glow of trihydrogen, or both. Further analysis could tell us which.

Jupiter

Jupiter was the first of the giant planets to get the JWST treatment, with images dropping in August of last year – and boy howdy were they stunning.

The spectacular detail seen in the planet's turbulent clouds and storms was perhaps not entirely surprising.

However, we also got treated to some rarely seen features: the permanent aurorae that shimmer at Jupiter's poles, invisible in optical wavelengths, and Jupiter's tenuous rings.

We also saw two of the planet's smaller, lesser-known moons, Amalthea and Adrastea, with fuzzy blobs of distant galaxies in the background.

"This one image sums up the science of our Jupiter system program, which studies the dynamics and chemistry of Jupiter itself, its rings, and its satellite system," said astronomer Thierry Fouchet of Paris Observatory in France, who co-led the observations.

Neptune

Observations of Neptune arrived in the latter half of September 2022.

Because Neptune is so very far away, it tends to get a little neglected; you're probably used to seeing, if anything, the images taken by Voyager 2 when it flew past in 1989.

JWST's observations gave us, for the first time in more than 30 years, a new look at the ice giant's dainty rings – and the first ever in infrared.

It also revealed seven of Neptune's 14 known moons, and bright spots in its atmosphere.

Most of those are storm activity, but if you look closely, you'll see a bright band circling the planet's equator.

This had never been seen before and could be, scientists say, a signature of Neptune's global atmospheric circulation.

Uranus

Uranus is also pretty far away, but it's also a huge weirdo. Although very similar to Neptune, the two planets are slightly different hues, which is something of a mystery.

Uranus is also tipped sideways, which is challenging to explain too.

JWST's observations, released in April 2023, aren't solving these conundrums.

However, they have revealed 11 of the 13 structures of the incredible Uranian ring system and an unexplained atmospheric brightening over the planet's polar cap.

JWST has a lot to say about the early Universe; but it's opening up space science close to home, too.

As its first year of operations comes to an end, we can't help but speculate what new wonders will be to come in the years ahead.

Top: Jupiter - Neptune / Bottom: Uranus - Saturn

Credit: NASA

[wayti-blog]

Striking new Webb image showing alignment of bipolar jets confirms star formation theories

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, K. Pontoppidan (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory), J. Green (Space Telescope Science Institute))

"For the first time, a phenomenon astronomers have long hoped to image directly has been captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope's Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). In this stunning image of the Serpens Nebula, the discovery lies in the northern area of this young, nearby star-forming region.

The astronomers found an intriguing group of protostellar outflows, formed when jets of gas spewing from newborn stars collide with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. Typically, these objects have a variety of orientations within one region. Here, however, they are all slanted in the same direction, to the same degree, like sleet pouring down during a storm."

"So, just how does the alignment of the stellar jets relate to the rotation of the star? As an interstellar gas cloud collapses in on itself to form a star, it spins more rapidly. The only way for the gas to continue moving inward is for some of the spin (known as angular momentum) to be removed.

A disk of material forms around the young star to transport material down, like a whirlpool around a drain. The swirling magnetic fields in the inner disk launch some of the material into twin jets that shoot outward in opposite directions, perpendicular to the disk of material."

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[whats-in-a-sentence]

Figure 20.3 summarises the wavelengths and frequencies of some regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. (...) The infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum (figure 20.3) covers the range of wavelengths from 7.8 × 10-⁷ m (just longer than the visible than the visible region) to 2.0 × 10-³ m (just shorter than the microwave region).

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[shamnadt]

850nm vs 940nm IR LED Wavelengths - Which is best for a Night Vision Camera?

If you are interested in night vision devices, you may have come across the dilemma, 850nm vs 940nm. These are the wavelengths of infrared (IR) light that are commonly used to enhance the visibility of objects in the dark. But what are the differences between these two wavelengths, and how do they affect the performance of your night vision device? In this blog post, we will explain the…

[nasa]

A simulated image of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s future observations toward the center of our galaxy, spanning less than 1 percent of the total area of Roman’s Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey. The simulated stars were drawn from the Besançon Galactic Model.

Exploring the Changing Universe with the Roman Space Telescope

The view from your backyard might paint the universe as an unchanging realm, where only twinkling stars and nearby objects, like satellites and meteors, stray from the apparent constancy. But stargazing through NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will offer a front row seat to a dazzling display of cosmic fireworks sparkling across the sky.

Roman will view extremely faint infrared light, which has longer wavelengths than our eyes can see. Two of the mission’s core observing programs will monitor specific patches of the sky. Stitching the results together like stop-motion animation will create movies that reveal changing objects and fleeting events that would otherwise be hidden from our view.

Watch this video to learn about time-domain astronomy and how time will be a key element in NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s galactic bulge survey. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

This type of science, called time-domain astronomy, is difficult for telescopes that have smaller views of space. Roman’s large field of view will help us see huge swaths of the universe. Instead of always looking at specific things and events astronomers have already identified, Roman will be able to repeatedly observe large areas of the sky to catch phenomena scientists can't predict. Then astronomers can find things no one knew were there!

One of Roman’s main surveys, the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, will monitor hundreds of millions of stars toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers will see many of the stars appear to flash or flicker over time.

This animation illustrates the concept of gravitational microlensing. When one star in the sky appears to pass nearly in front of another, the light rays of the background source star are bent due to the warped space-time around the foreground star. The closer star is then a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the background source star, so we refer to the foreground star as the lens star. If the lens star harbors a planetary system, then those planets can also act as lenses, each one producing a short change in the brightness of the source. Thus, we discover the presence of each exoplanet, and measure its mass and how far it is from its star. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab 

That can happen when something like a star or planet moves in front of a background star from our point of view. Because anything with mass warps the fabric of space-time, light from the distant star bends around the nearer object as it passes by. That makes the nearer object act as a natural magnifying glass, creating a temporary spike in the brightness of the background star’s light. That signal lets astronomers know there’s an intervening object, even if they can’t see it directly.

This artist’s concept shows the region of the Milky Way NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey will cover – relatively uncharted territory when it comes to planet-finding. That’s important because the way planets form and evolve may be different depending on where in the galaxy they’re located. Our solar system is situated near the outskirts of the Milky Way, about halfway out on one of the galaxy’s spiral arms. A recent Kepler Space Telescope study showed that stars on the fringes of the Milky Way possess fewer of the most common planet types that have been detected so far. Roman will search in the opposite direction, toward the center of the galaxy, and could find differences in that galactic neighborhood, too.

Using this method, called microlensing, Roman will likely set a new record for the farthest-known exoplanet. That would offer a glimpse of a different galactic neighborhood that could be home to worlds quite unlike the more than 5,500 that are currently known. Roman’s microlensing observations will also find starless planets, black holes, neutron stars, and more!

This animation shows a planet crossing in front of, or transiting, its host star and the corresponding light curve astronomers would see. Using this technique, scientists anticipate NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could find 100,000 new worlds. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA/GESTAR)

Stars Roman sees may also appear to flicker when a planet crosses in front of, or transits, its host star as it orbits. Roman could find 100,000 planets this way! Small icy objects that haunt the outskirts of our own solar system, known as Kuiper belt objects, may occasionally pass in front of faraway stars Roman sees, too. Astronomers will be able to see how much water the Kuiper belt objects have because the ice absorbs specific wavelengths of infrared light, providing a “fingerprint” of its presence. This will give us a window into our solar system’s early days.

This animation visualizes a type Ia supernova.

Roman’s High Latitude Time-Domain Survey will look beyond our galaxy to hunt for type Ia supernovas. These exploding stars originate from some binary star systems that contain at least one white dwarf – the small, hot core remnant of a Sun-like star. In some cases, the dwarf may siphon material from its companion. This triggers a runaway reaction that ultimately detonates the thief once it reaches a specific point where it has gained so much mass that it becomes unstable.

NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will see thousands of exploding stars called supernovae across vast stretches of time and space. Using these observations, astronomers aim to shine a light on several cosmic mysteries, providing a window onto the universe’s distant past. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Since these rare explosions each peak at a similar, known intrinsic brightness, astronomers can use them to determine how far away they are by simply measuring how bright they appear. Astronomers will use Roman to study the light of these supernovas to find out how quickly they appear to be moving away from us.

By comparing how fast they’re receding at different distances, scientists can trace cosmic expansion over time. This will help us understand whether and how dark energy – the unexplained pressure thought to speed up the universe’s expansion – has changed throughout the history of the universe.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will survey the same areas of the sky every few days. Researchers will mine this data to identify kilonovas – explosions that happen when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole collide and merge. When these collisions happen, a fraction of the resulting debris is ejected as jets, which move near the speed of light. The remaining debris produces hot, glowing, neutron-rich clouds that forge heavy elements, like gold and platinum. Roman’s extensive data will help astronomers better identify how often these events occur, how much energy they give off, and how near or far they are.

And since this survey will repeatedly observe the same large vista of space, scientists will also see sporadic events like neutron stars colliding and stars being swept into black holes. Roman could even find new types of objects and events that astronomers have never seen before!

Learn more about the exciting science Roman will investigate on X and Facebook.

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[radiantmists]

So I've just been thinking about clark kent wearing glasses, because i think the prevailing canon is that he wears glasses with no correction, but as someone who wears glasses i don't think that would last long as a pretense bc you always end up switching glasses with your friends/having them stolen by your normal visioned friends so that you can flex about how shitty your eyes are. Also there's a visible difference between lenses with correction and without. So people would know!

Here are some options ive thought of for what actually goes on:

Clark wears clear lenses, and everyone who knows him well knows this. (Lois makes fun of him for being a hipster. He says he thinks the glasses make him look more Professional. She counters that if he wants that, he should start wearing clothes that fit.)

Clark wears glasses with unnecessary correction, and the blurring helps sell the clumsy act. Since he's generally invulnerable, he doesn't tear up or get headaches.

Clark wears glasses with unnecessary correction, but his eyes can adjust to see normally through them. (His x-ray/infrared vision seems to be under semi-voluntary control where he can choose different wavelengths and focus at different distances, so being able to change the internal workings of his eyes actually makes some sense.)

Clark has superhumanly exccellent distance vision so he's mostly fine as Superman, but he needs reading glasses. 'Clark Kent' is exactly the sort of person who forgets to take their reading glasses off, so that works out, but the first time Superman has to hold a JL mission briefing farther from his face like a dad so he can read it is an Event.

[apod]

2024 May 3

Temperatures on Exoplanet WASP-43b Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) Science: Taylor Bell (BAERI), Joanna Barstow (The Open University), Michael Roman (University of Leicester)

Explanation: A mere 280 light-years from Earth, tidally locked, Jupiter-sized exoplanet WASP-43b orbits its parent star once every 0.8 Earth days. That puts it about 2 million kilometers (less than 1/25th the orbital distance of Mercury) from a small, cool sun. Still, on a dayside always facing its parent star, temperatures approach a torrid 2,500 degrees F as measured at infrared wavelengths by the MIRI instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope. In this illustration of the hot exoplanet's orbit, Webb measurements also show nightside temperatures remain above 1,000 degrees F. That suggests that strong equatorial winds circulate the dayside atmospheric gases to the nightside before they can completely cool off. Exoplanet WASP-43b is now formally known as Astrolábos, and its K-type parent star has been christened Gnomon. Webb's infrared spectra indicate water vapor is present on the nightside as well as the dayside of the planet, providing information about cloud cover on Astrolábos.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240503.html

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Here's a look into the star-forming region S106, made from image data captured by NASAHubble in infrared wavelengths on Feb. 13, 2011. A newborn star is blasting away a space from within the cloud it formed, 3,300 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

Credit: Jason Major

[blueiscoool]

Saturn

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope took its first near-infrared look at Saturn on June 25. The planet appears dark at this wavelength, as methane gas in its atmosphere absorbs sunlight — but its icy rings stay bright!

Of course Saturn brought its ring light 🪐

[thefirststarr]

This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope view shows the globular cluster NGC 2298, a sparkling collection of thousands of stars held together by their mutual gravitational attraction. Globular clusters are typically home to populations of older stars, and they mostly reside in the dusty outskirts of galaxies. Scientists utilized the telescope’s unique ability to observe the cosmos across multiple wavelengths of light to study NGC 2298 in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. This valuable information helps astronomers better understand how globular clusters behave, including their internal movements, orbits, and the evolution of their stars.

Image Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, G. Piotto (Universita degli Studi di Padova), and A. Sarajedini (Florida Atlantic University);

[dio-icarticaae]

It's a minor pet peeve of mine when somehow de-powered Clark (usually via red sun radiation) is portrayed as just being a regular human. He's not.

Kryptonians are aliens, and logically, for Clark to be able to do all that he does under a yellow sun, Kryptonians should be able to do something similar (though far less powerful) under a red sun too. Why would Clark be able to take in energy from the sun if Kryptonians didn't do the same on Krypton?

A kryptonian under a red sun (or depowered Clark) should still have keener senses than a human and be able to see in more wavelengths; maybe still able to move a little bit faster than a human could or be a little bit stronger. Be more durable than a human too. The mechanism for heat vision would still be there, just less powerful (maybe emits closer to infrared?) Maybe a Kryptonian under a red sun can't fly, but they can glide/hover/jump a lot further.

Anyway, the point is: Clark's an alien. Even without his powers, he's still an alien.

[sweet-evie]

GOJO'S SIX EYES because we don't talk enough about what Gojo sees... and when you really think about it, it's TOO MUCH

First off, thinking about how freaking insecure I'd be if Gojo were real and he could see me.

That man's vision is beyond 20/20 when his eyes are uncovered... Aside from seeing cursed energy in incredible detail, he can probably see very fine details and that's scary.

He can see all the flaws. LITERALLY.

There's a panel in the manga that also revealed he can see someone's soul... WHAT THE FUCK. He perceives it the same way Mahito can.

A normal human body to his uncovered eyes consists of physical and spiritual layers and he can see it.

Gege mentioned in a fan book that with the blindfold on, his vision is like a high definition thermal camera.

What does the world even look like to his naked eyes?

Do his eyes function like a microscope sometimes? Since, you know, manipulation of cursed energy to an atomic level and all that. And when he was a student, he passively mentioned learning how to detect poisons to essentially train his Infinity to recognize it as a threat and filter it out.

Speaking of manipulating cursed energy to an atomic level, Gojo would be great at physics, chemistry, and math. 🤷‍♀️

How far is his field of vision and how's the depth? Do the Six Eyes defy logic and Gojo has 340º vision? Like a bird of prey or something? Maybe not literally, but his visual perception probably is something similar to that or idk.

I bet he can see through his eyelids too.

Can he see through walls? It's insinuated that he can in Season 1 Episode 3, when Nobara was fighting that low Grade 3 Cursed Spirit. And he was wearing a blindfold.

Can he see other wavelengths of light? Infrared, radio, ultra-violet, X-ray, and gamma-ray?

The normal human eye interprets a limited range of light. Meaning, there are colors that normal people can't see. "Impossible colors" are a thing... And Gojo is not normal. Can Gojo SEE "IMPOSSIBLE COLORS"?

Gege... I know you hate the man, but give us a full breakdown of what the Six Eyes can SEE. I WANT TO KNOW. 😭 My imagination ain't enough.

His eyes got me on a spiral, and don't get me started on the amount of information his brain is probably processing every fucking day if his eyes are uncovered.

Also, if Megumi brings it up at some point, Gojo would DEFINITELY argue that he has better eyesight than a bald eagle. 💀

[wayti-blog]

New image from James Webb Space Telescope reveals astonishing Saturn and its rings

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Matt Tiscareno (SETI Institute), Matt Hedman (University of Idaho), Maryame El Moutamid (Cornell University), Mark Showalter (SETI Institute), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Heidi Hammel (AURA), J. DePasquale (STScI))

“Get ready to be amazed by the latest James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image. Saturn's iconic rings seem to glow eerily in this incredible infrared picture, which also unveils unexpected features in Saturn's atmosphere.

This image serves as context for an observing program that will test the telescope's capacity to detect faint moons around the planet and its bright rings. Any newly discovered moons could help scientists put together a more complete picture of the current system of Saturn, as well as its past.

Methane gas absorbs almost all the sunlight falling on the atmosphere at this picture's specific infrared wavelength (3.23 microns). As a result, Saturn's familiar striped patterns aren't visible because the methane-rich upper atmosphere blocks our view of the primary clouds.”

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[whats-in-a-sentence]

Our eyes are sensitive to only a small range of frequencies – the visible-light region of the electromagnetic spectrum (Figure 7.2).

"Plant Physiology and Development" int'l 6e - Taiz, L., Zeiger, E., Møller, I.M., Murphy, A.

[sepdet]

I went out to a little "glamping" bungalow near Joshua Tree last night to try my new telescope under clear skies.

Smoke from wildfires, light glow from the gibbous moon, and collimation troubles mean these images are still not the best I think I can coax out of this beastie. but I am pleased.

I'm leaving the optional timestamp on each of these images, since the telescope will label what they are ("M8 Lagoon Nebula", eg.) The time in minutes is the exposure length. These are all visible wavelengths, btw— no filters, infrared, etc.

Here are several nebulae (yes, that's the Trifid Nebula), a couple of globular star clusters, a beautiful galaxy drawing in a friend, and a deep sky comet that is getting hyped up although we can't be sure yet that it won't break apart as it loops around the particularly active Sun.

[nasa]

Of course Saturn brought its ring light.

On June 25, 2023, our James Webb Space Telescope made its first near-infrared observations of Saturn. The planet itself appears extremely dark at this infrared wavelength, since methane gas absorbs almost all the sunlight falling on the atmosphere. The icy rings, however, stay relatively bright, leading to Saturn’s unusual appearance in this image.

This new image of Saturn clearly shows details within the planet’s ring system, several of the planet’s moons (Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys), and even Saturn’s atmosphere in surprising and unexpected detail.

These observations from Webb are just a hint at what this observatory will add to Saturn’s story in the coming years as the science team delves deep into the data to prepare peer-reviewed results.

Download the full-resolution image, both labeled and unlabeled, from the Space Telescope Science Institute.

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