Recently in Space
2022 is a groundbreaking year in terms of space exploration for humans. We’ve seen the first images come from the James Webb Space Telescope of which include the Carina Nebula, the Southern Ring Nebula, Stephan’s Quintet, the analysis of the planet WASP-96b, and the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Scientists have also started experimenting with asteroid redirection attempts with the DART mission that had impact in September. Eventually in December we will witness a drone launched by South Korea analyze the moon in more depth, to collect information on the possibility of building habitats.
One of the very neat things that astronomers are able to witness for the first time is the nebula cataloged as NGC 3132, more commonly known as the Southern Ring nebula. This nebula is currently about 2500 light years away, and it was chosen to be studied because the star in the center of the nebula has been spewing dust and gas all around it for thousands of years. With the James Webb telescope astronomers will be able to witness this death of a star and gain a better understanding of what kinds of molecules are expelled by a dying star and where they are located within clouds of dust and gas. Currently there is not a whole lot of data about this topic, so hopefully the James Webb Space telescope will give astronomers a better understanding of stars in their last phases.
The technology on the James Webb Telescope (JWST) is exceptional and definitely a great example of contemporary technological advancements. It was able to analyze with incredible precision and accuracy the atmosphere of the planet WASP-96b despite the planet being more than hundreds of light years away. This is all due to the fact that specific gas molecules decrease the brightness of the colors of light in different ways, allowing the telescope to detect specific types of molecules such as water. NASA hopes to use this technology to locate different planets which could be habitable for humans even if we may not get to them within this lifetime.
More recently however the James Webb Telescope was able to take pictures of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, more commonly known as the DART mission. In the DART mission, NASA launched a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos in hopes of seeing if they could redirect it. Using both the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, they were able to record several observations of the collision that occurred on September 26, 2022. When the DART collided with the asteroid, scientists looked specifically at whether fine dust or big chunks of material came off the surface of the asteroid to better understand the chemical composition of the asteroid.
Researchers get particularly accurate data with the JWST’s mid infrared instrument which tracks the wavelengths of light from anywhere between 5-28 microns (10-6 m), as well as the near-infrared spectrograph, which can track wavelengths of light in the ranges of 0.6 to 5 microns.
Prior to the DART mission, the South Korean moon pathfinder Danuri was launched on August 5th of this year, with a planned arrival in December. The data that Danuri will obtain will be crucial in the next steps of human exploration on the moon. NASA gave the ShadowCam, a camera which is able to visualize and take images of extremely dark spaces, to the South Korean space agency in hopes that Danuri will be able to take images on the dark side of the moon and larger craters that are permanently shaded. NASA hopes to find frozen water in the craters of the dark side of the moon, as some scientists believe that there are ice deposits available for use in these craters on the moon. This could be a valuable resource for the future construction of moon habitats. If water is discovered on the planet, it won’t have to be transported from earth to the moon.
Over the next handful of years, there are going to be more and more interesting developments in space. As our society has been putting more instruments into space, we have been able to reach outside of our atmosphere at a much more effective rate, with many different companies and countries starting to show promising progress in various aspects of space exploration.