The James Webb Space Telescope observed concentric squarish-shaped “ripple” rings encircling a distant star. Astronomers are baffled by the new findings.
The perplexing photo was captured in July, not long after the James Webb Space Telescope began its science operations and unveiled its first collection of full-color images. Later, it was discovered and posted on Twitter by citizen scientist Judy Schmidt, who has made available other stunning photos to the public, including one of the spiral galaxy NGC 628.
Schmidt searches through unprocessed public data to uncover new James Webb Space Telescope photos that haven’t yet been fully revealed to the public. Her most recent discovery shows the faraway star WR140 surrounded by cosmic ripples that diminish in size as they go farther from the source.
New James Webb Space Telescope Image
WR140 is a variable star, meaning its brightness undergoes observable changes over time. It is situated in the constellation Cygnus, around 5,600 light-years from Earth. Some have speculated that the ripples in the new James Webb photograph might have alien origins because of their strangely non-circular shape.
WR140 is a Wolf-Rayet star, which means it has “ejected most of [its] hydrogen envelopes [and is] fusing helium or [has] stopped altogether,” according to Mark McCaughrean, an interdisciplinary scientist in the James Webb Space Telescope Science Working Group and a science advisor to the European Space Agency, who referred to the image as “bonkers” in a Twitter thread.
McCaughrean said:
“The six-pointed blue structure is an artifact due to optical diffraction from the bright star WR140 in this #JWST MIRI image. But red curvy-yet-boxy stuff is real, a series of shells around WR140. Actually, in space. Around a star.”
Scientists Are Working on Clarifying the Observations
McCaughrean noted that he doesn’t know “why there are discrete, separated shells rather than a spiral structure.” However, scientists are currently trying to explain the complexities of the observations. For example, McCaughrean’s Twitter thread received a response from Ryan Lau, a NOIRLab astronomer and the project’s primary investigator who collected the observations. He wrote, “our paper on this has been submitted, so please stay tuned for the full story.”
James Webb’s Bright Future
Only two months into the telescope’s science operations, the new sighting is yet another proof of the enormous capacity of the $10 billion James Webb space observatory. Being the most powerful observatory ever launched into space, it has already eclipsed the record for farthest galaxy ever observed and is likely to do so repeatedly in the future.
Other incredible observations include new images of exoplanets and infrared photographs of Jupiter. Astronomy is currently experiencing a fascinating era, and the upcoming decade or two of James Webb’s observations are expected to significantly advance our understanding of the cosmos.
During that period, the James Webb Space Telescope is expected to continue to provide new details on some of the first stars and galaxies that showed up after the Big Bang. Some even claim that it might aid in our search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
