Just amazing!
This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument. It reveals an inner belt, akin to the solar system's asteroid belt but dustier and more extended; an intermediate belt; and a previously imaged outer belt that's analogous to our Kuiper Belt. The inner two belts had never been imaged before.
In 2008, the first 2 directly imaged exoplanet systems were announced, Fomalhaut b being one of them. (Also like...did they choose the Eye of Sauron colour scheme on purpose? I've always wanted to ask...)
Anyway, Fomalhaut's debris ring was eccentric, which is odd. Why would an asteroid belt be eccentric? Fomalhaut b provided an easy answer: it's gravitationally shepherding the eccentric ring. Makes perfect sense!
In light of the really impressive JWST observations of Fomalhaut that were released yesterday, I wanted to share my view of the Fomalhaut system. Story time!
Fomalhaut is a bright nearby star that has been known for decades to have a debris disk, a belt of dust caused by asteroids crashing into each other. Sounds very dramatic, but we see them all over the place! Our own Kuiper Belt and asteroid belt are extremely faint/low mass versions of debris disks we observe around other stars.
Loops of superheated plasma larger than the Earth dancing across the Sun, recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft.
Credit: SDO/NASA Goddard
Further reading: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/coronal-rain.html
@bigzaphod It will likely go out again. Consider replacing it to simplify your life. Right now you can probably get a big rebate for installing a heat pump water heater. These are much more energy efficient and should last longer.
More info: https://www.treehugger.com/heat-pump-water-heater-6749386
@GottaLaff So on the plus side: Reduced algae growth, cooler panels, maybe less water evaporation. Negative side: expensive vs. ground mount, fragile (blown away in bad weather). Most of the canals are in the middle of wide open desert or ag fields. Just putting solar next to the canals would be much easier. Space is not an issue.
All for solar, but not sure this is a very good idea.
Late entry for my 2022 observatory summary thread!
Data captured in August/Sept. Had lots of trouble processing this one - the [OIII] "squid" in raw data is faint! Using Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch (first time for me) helped.
Ha part of this is catalogued as Sh2-129 (& probably other #'s 🤪). The "Squid" is catalogued as OU4 - from the (unofficial?) "Nicolas Outters" catalogue.
Someday I'd like to take another stab at processing this.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Wonder of Science
Dave xxxiv 🇨🇦📷🔭✨