NASA James Webb Space telescope finds signs of possible lights on planet 47 light years away
In huge news for astronomy fans, NASA may have made an intriguing breakthrough in the field of space exploration.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched on Christmas Day in 2021, sent into space to outperform the long-standing Hubble Telescope and capture crystal-clear images of newly-discovered stars, planets, galaxies, and more.
The $10 billion telescope has already captured amazing photos of Uranus in our solar system... stop laughing.
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And it looks like it may have just made a ground-breaking discovery light-years outside our solar system.
Despite social media rumours of the discovery of 'city lights' on exoplanet Proxima Centauri b, which shares similar characteristics to Earth, signalling signs of extraterrestrial life, it has since been debunked.
It turns out that the discovery is something just as interesting.
In a statement released on the official JWST website, it was announced that the telescope may just have found 'aurorae' appearing as lights on what is known as a 'brown dwarf'.
Affectionately named 'Brown Dwarf W1935', the object is bigger than Jupiter but no bigger than the Sun.
It is cold and lacks a host star, meaning there is no clear source for the energy in the upper atmosphere, while it is speculated that methane emissions are behind the object emitting an aurorae.
Basically, an aurorae on Earth is created when energetic particles that make their way into space from the Sun are captured by our planet's magnetic field.
They then cascade down towards our atmosphere along magnetic field lines around the Earth's poles, colliding with gas molecules - this creates pretty curtains of lights - you may know these as the Northern Lights.
Jupiter and Saturn have similar aurorae phenomenons to do with solar wind, but Brown Dwarf W1935 has no star to orbit, so its aurorae is a huge mystery that is set to be discussed at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in New Orleans.
The excitement of it possibly signalling life beyond Earth spread on social media prior to the official announcement by NASA.
It wouldn't be possible with the Brown Dwarf being out of a habitable zone and without a star altogether.
Everyone's hopes continue to rest on Proxima Centauri b, just 4.24 light-years from earth and within the Milky Way galaxy.
With scientists detecting the presence of water on the exoplanet, the possibility of life on the planet can't be ruled out.
Perhaps one day, selected humans will move there to restart civilisation after a mass-extinction event on Earth.
That's more of a Hollywood script from the depths of my brain...my bad.
Topics: NASA, Science, James Webb Space Telescope
Joshua Nair