Kennismaken met sterrenkunde

Natuur

Donderdag 26 september 2024

Stichting Vesta-Oostzaanse Sterrenwacht, Zuideinde, Oostzaan, Nederland

19:45

gratis

On 25 June 2023, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope turned to famed ringed world Saturn for its first near-infrared observations of the planet. The initial imagery from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) is already fascinating researchers. Saturn itself appears extremely dark at this infrared wavelength observed by the telescope, as methane gas absorbs almost all of the sunlight falling on the atmosphere. However, the icy rings stay relatively bright, leading to the unusual appearance of Saturn in the Webb image. This image was taken as part of Webb Guaranteed Time Observation program 1247. The program included several very deep exposures of Saturn, which were designed to test the telescope’s capacity to detect faint moons around the planet and its bright rings. Details in the orbital characteristics of newly discovered moons could help scientists put together a more complete picture of the current system of Saturn, as well as its past. This new image of Saturn clearly shows details within the planet’s ring system, along with several of the planet’s moons – Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys. Additional deeper exposures (not shown here) will allow the team to probe some of the planet’s fainter rings, not visible in this image, including the thin G ring and the diffuse E ring. Saturn’s rings are made up of an array of rocky and icy fragments – the particles range in size from smaller than a grain of sand to a few as large as mountains on Earth. Researchers recently used Webb to explore Enceladus, and found a large plume jetting from the southern pole of the moon that contains both particles and plentiful amounts of water vapor – this plume feeds Saturn’s E ring. Saturn’s atmosphere also shows surprising and unexpected detail. This is the first time that the planet’s atmosphere has been seen with such clarity at this particular wavelength (3.23 microns). The large, dark, diffuse structures in the northern hemisphere do not follow the plane

Sterrenkunde als hobby is zo fascinerend!

Veel mensen vullen deze hobby in hun privéleven in door er meer van te willen weten, en buiten te genieten van de verstilling en een soort verbondenheid te ervaren met de sterrenhemel. Zij verwonderen zich over het grote en het verre boven hun hoofd. Ze dromen weg bij het onbekende. Anderen willen het op de foto vast leggen. Weer anderen willen het delen met anderen door lid te worden van een Sterren-vereniging of een volkssterrenwacht. Nog weer anderen bouwen een sterrenwacht in hun eigen achtertuin.

Op deze kennismakingsavond is de toegang vrij maar het aantal zitplaatsen beperkt. Daarom is reserveren (via e-mail) aan te raden.

Gerelateerde evenementen

Bekijk de volledige agenda