Artist’s idea of JWST

The twenty fifth December marks an anniversary on the planet of astronomy (in addition to Sir Isaac Newton’s birthday, in fact) – the launch of JWST, the infrared area telescope launched to discover the Universe in unprecedented element. One yr on from launch, Chris North and Edward Gomez have a look at a couple of of the outcomes which have are available, on prime of these we’ve coated beforehand.

From our personal photo voltaic system, to the delivery of stars, and out in direction of the primary galaxies, the outcomes have coated an enormous vary of scales in each area and time. That’s due to the outstanding scientific devices onboard JWST, together with cameras and spectrometers.

Nevertheless it’s not simply the formation of objects that it’s checked out – JWST can provide distinctive insights into the deaths of stars as properly. Dr Mikako Matsuura and Dr Roger Wesson, each at Cardiff College, clarify what they’ve been discovering about “planetary nebulae”.

An prolonged version of an unique broadcast on twenty ninth December 2022 as a part of Pythagoras’ Trousers on Radio Cardiff.