“The James Webb Telescope: Are We Alone?” on The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper offers an inside look at the most powerful telescope ever built. A collision between giant asteroids likely occurred in a neighboring star system called Beta Pictoris in recent years, and two different space observatories are helping to tell the tale. The Beta Pictoris system, located just 63 light-years from Earth, has long intrigued astronomers because of its proximity and age. “So I was super excited to reobserve this system in 2023 using the James Webb Space Telescope,” Chen said. The dust was then pushed out of the planetary system by radiation from the central star, which is slightly hotter than our sun.

Source: CNN June 16, 2024 16:56 UTC