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Did NASA prove that Tatooine exists?

ByElizabeth Reese|
July 12, 2022; This side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from NASA’s Webb Telescope.This scene was created by a white dwarf star – the remains of a star like our Sun after it shed its outer layers and stopped burning fuel though nuclear fusion. Those outer layers now form the ejected shells all along this view.In the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image, the white dwarf appears to the lower left of the bright, central star, partially hidden by a diffraction spike. The same star appears – but brighter, larger, and redder – in the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) image. This white dwarf star is cloaked in thick layers of dust, which make it appear larger.The brighter star in both images hasn’t yet shed its layers. It closely orbits the dimmer white dwarf, helping to distribute what it’s ejected.Over thousands of years and before it became a white dwarf, the star periodically ejected mass – the visible shells of material. As if on repeat, it contracted, heated up – and then, unable to push out more material, pulsated. Stellar material was sent in all directions – like a rotating sprinkler – and provided the ingredients for this asymmetrical landscape.Today, the white dwarf is heating up the gas in the inner regions – which appear blue at left and red at right. Both stars are lighting up the outer regions, shown in orange and blue, respectively.The images look very different because NIRCam and MIRI collect different wavelengths of light. NIRCam observes near-infrared light, which is closer to the visible wavelengths our eyes detect. MIRI goes farther into the infrared, picking up mid-infrared wavelengths. The second star more clearly appears in the MIRI image, because this instrument can see the gleaming dust around it, bringing it more clearly into view.The stars – and their layers of light – steal more attention in the NIRCam image, while dust plays the lead in the MIRI image, specifically dust that is illuminated.Peer at the circular region at the center of both images. Each contains a wobbly, asymmetrical belt of material. This is where two “bowls” that make up the nebula meet. (In this view, the nebula is at a 40-degree angle.) This belt is easier to spot in the MIRI image – look for the yellowish circle – but is also visible in the NIRCam image.The light that travels through the orange dust in the NIRCam image – which look like spotlights – disappear at longer infrared wavelengths in the MIRI image.In near-infrared light, stars have more prominent diffraction spikes because they are so bright at these wavelengths. In mid-infrared light, diffraction spikes also appear around stars, but they are fainter and smaller (zoom in to spot them).Physics is the reason for the difference in the resolution of these images. NIRCam delivers high-resolution imaging because these wavelengths of light are shorter. MIRI supplies medium-resolution imagery because its wavelengths are longer – the longer the wavelength, the coarser the images are. But both deliver an incredible amount of detail about every object they observe – providing never-before-seen vistas of the universe.For a full array of Webb’s first images and spectra, including downloadable files, please visit: https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-imagesNIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona. Mandatory Credit: Handout/NASA via USA TODAY NETWORK
July 12, 2022; This side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from NASA’s Webb Telescope.This scene was created by a white dwarf star – the remains of a star like our Sun after it shed its outer layers and stopped burning fuel though nuclear fusion. Those outer layers now form the ejected shells all along this view.In the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image, the white dwarf appears to the lower left of the bright, central star, partially hidden by a diffraction spike. The same star appears – but brighter, larger, and redder – in the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) image. This white dwarf star is cloaked in thick layers of dust, which make it appear larger.The brighter star in both images hasn’t yet shed its layers. It closely orbits the dimmer white dwarf, helping to distribute what it’s ejected.Over thousands of years and before it became a white dwarf, the star periodically ejected mass – the visible shells of material. As if on repeat, it contracted, heated up – and then, unable to push out more material, pulsated. Stellar material was sent in all directions – like a rotating sprinkler – and provided the ingredients for this asymmetrical landscape.Today, the white dwarf is heating up the gas in the inner regions – which appear blue at left and red at right. Both stars are lighting up the outer regions, shown in orange and blue, respectively.The images look very different because NIRCam and MIRI collect different wavelengths of light. NIRCam observes near-infrared light, which is closer to the visible wavelengths our eyes detect. MIRI goes farther into the infrared, picking up mid-infrared wavelengths. The second star more clearly appears in the MIRI image, because this instrument can see the gleaming dust around it, bringing it more clearly into view.The stars – and their layers of light – steal more attention in the NIRCam image, while dust plays the lead in the MIRI image, specifically dust that is illuminated.Peer at the circular region at the center of both images. Each contains a wobbly, asymmetrical belt of material. This is where two “bowls” that make up the nebula meet. (In this view, the nebula is at a 40-degree angle.) This belt is easier to spot in the MIRI image – look for the yellowish circle – but is also visible in the NIRCam image.The light that travels through the orange dust in the NIRCam image – which look like spotlights – disappear at longer infrared wavelengths in the MIRI image.In near-infrared light, stars have more prominent diffraction spikes because they are so bright at these wavelengths. In mid-infrared light, diffraction spikes also appear around stars, but they are fainter and smaller (zoom in to spot them).Physics is the reason for the difference in the resolution of these images. NIRCam delivers high-resolution imaging because these wavelengths of light are shorter. MIRI supplies medium-resolution imagery because its wavelengths are longer – the longer the wavelength, the coarser the images are. But both deliver an incredible amount of detail about every object they observe – providing never-before-seen vistas of the universe.For a full array of Webb’s first images and spectra, including downloadable files, please visit: https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-imagesNIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona. Mandatory Credit: Handout/NASA via USA TODAY NETWORK

On Tuesday, July 12, NASA released the first full images and data from the James Webb Space Telescope. The images, which have been highly anticipated since the telescope’s launch on Christmas Day 2021, are some of the most detailed and dazzling of deep space as seen by the human eye to date.

The Hubble, which performed similar duties in the past, returned images that were still astounding but were blurry and more difficult to see. The difference between the two aerospace marvels lies not only with the advancements in technology but also in the functions of the two telescopes. Using infrared wavelengths instead of simply gathering light, Webb’s mirror is nearly double the size of Hubble’s, allowing more light to gather and more distance to be seen. The Hubble is also placed lower in Earth’s orbit (only about 570km above the planet), while Webb is 1.5 million km away from our home, which means more space can be explored.

One of the most stunning images retrieved by Webb was the Southern Ring Planetary Nebula. The nebula, also previously captured by Hubble, shows a dying central star of gas purging gas and dust over 2,000 light-years away. When you look closer at the center of the nebula, you may notice something oddly familiar to Star Wars fans; two bright stars, one red and one blue.

If you felt similar to a specific moisture farmboy on a desert planet looking into the sunset as you stared at these images, you were not alone. These images are capturing galaxies far beyond our own, and because of the way light travels, all of the images we see are actually from thousands of years ago. Does this mean that the Webb Telescope captured a binary star system from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?

Much is left to be discovered from NASA’s Webb and the marvels it will bring us. Although the existence of other galaxies has been known for centuries, scientists hope to use Webb’s findings to learn about how galaxies form and evolve in the universe and the possibility of other life forms.

As for now, perhaps we can take comfort in the fact that somewhere there may be a Luke Skywalker wondering where his place is in this big, expansive universe.

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