This graphic presents some of the first results from the eXtreme UV Environments (XUE) James Webb Space Telescope program. Astronomers focused on rocky-planet-forming regions of disks in the Lobster Nebula using Webb’s Medium Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). This first result focuses on the protoplanetary disk termed XUE 1, which is located in the star cluster Pismis 24.
The inner disk around XUE 1 revealed signatures of water (highlighted here in blue and centered around 14.2 microns), as well as acetylene (C2H2, highlighted in green; centered around 13.7 microns), hydrogen cyanide (HCN, highlighted in brown; centered around 14.0 microns), and carbon dioxide (CO2, highlighted in red; centered around 14.95 microns). As indicated, some of the emission detected was weaker than some of the predicted models, which might imply a small outer disk radius.
Credits
Illustration
NASA, ESA, CSA, María Claudia Ramírez-Tannus (MPIA), Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
