James Webb Space Telescope Weekly Schedule Sep 26, 2022 to Oct 03, 2022

September 30, 2022


Last week James Webb Telescope observed Galcen - Miky way galactic center, Interacting galaxies IIZW96, Supernovae SN-2004ET, SN-2017EAW, white dwarfs and other objects. For more details regarding these observations, check out last week's schedule here. This week, James Webb Telescope is scheduled to observe Trapezium Cluster, a protoplanetary disk around the young star MWC 758, Asteroid Pallas and Galaxy NGC-2403 among other objects. Following are the major objects that James Webb Space Telescope will study this week (Sep 26 to Oct 03, 2022) as per the schedule published here. File Link, Link

Trapezium ClusterCredit:  Data: Hubble Legacy Archive, Processing: Robert Gendler

Four hot, massive stars collectively known as the Trapezium can be found at the Orion Nebula's core, towards the center of this crisp cosmic image. They make up the majority of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster's core and are concentrated inside an area with a radius of around 1.5 light-years. The entire visible light of the complicated star-forming region is generated by ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars, primarily from the star with the highest brightness, Theta-1 Orionis C. The Orion Nebula Cluster, which is about three million years old, used to be even more compact. A recent dynamical research suggests that runaway stellar collisions may have created a black hole with a mass greater than 100 times that of the Sun at an earlier age.  James Webb Telescope is scheduled to observe the Trapezium Cluster on several days from September 28, 2022 to October 03, 2022.

MWC 758 - Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI);

In protoplanetary disks, spatially defined features give hints of hidden planets. Prior imaging studies of the transitional disk surrounding MWC 758 identified an inner hole, an outer disk that resembled a ring, emission clusters, and spiral arms—all of which may have been produced by partners. The outer edge of the core submillimeter emission cavity may be well fit by an ellipse and one focus on the star after being de projected, which reveals the cavity to be eccentric. Three small rings with two gaps in between the wide outer disk's rings are resolved. The two outside rings appear to be slightly eccentric and oriented similarly to the innermost ring enclosing the inner chamber. James Webb Telescope is scheduled to observe MWC 758 on Sep 29, 2022.

2-Pallas - Credit: ESO/Vernazza et al.

After Ceres, 2-Pallas is the second asteroid to be found. Though substantially less hydrated than Ceres, it is thought to have a mineral makeup similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites like Ceres. It is a possible leftover protoplanet and the third-largest asteroid in the Solar System by both volume and mass. It makes up an estimated 7% of the mass of the asteroid belt and is 79% the mass of Vesta and 22% the mass of Ceres. Its estimated volume is 90–95 percent of Vesta's bulk, or a sphere with a diameter of 507–515 kilometers (315–320 miles). James Webb Telescope is scheduled to observe 2-Pallas on Oct 01, 2022.

NGC 2403 - Credit: NASA, ESA, A.V. Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley), P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), et al.

The intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 2403, sometimes referred to as Caldwell 7, is located in the Camelopardalis constellation. It is a peripheral member of the M81 Group, located around 8 million light-years away. It resembles M33 in that it is roughly 50,000 light years across and has a lot of star-forming H II regions. It is connected to the star-forming area NGC 2404 by the northern spiral arm. You can see NGC 2403 with 10X50 binoculars. James Webb Telescope is scheduled to observe NGC 2403 on Oct 03, 2022.