Science Wrap: Black hole's photon ring, Fauci retires, stunning new pics by James Webb telescope

This week in science has found the James Webb Space Telescope being on a spree of discovering new phenomena such as carbon dioxide outside the solar system and two new images of Jupiter. Astrophysicists have also come up with a ring of light in a black hole.

Going away from space science, Texas’s ongoing drought revealed new dinosaur footprints and ‘Covid Celebrity’ Dr Anthony Fauci has announced his retirement from US government service. 

1) Photon ring of black holes revealed

It was in 2019 when the world got the first glimpse of a supermassive black hole. The blurry image of what seems like an “orange donut”  in the middle of the Messier 87 galaxy (M87) was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope and it provided data that continues to be processed and studied by experts. Now, new research has suggested the possibility of a photon ring. 

This ring has been simulated in an image that is created with an imaging algorithm by a team led by astrophysicist Avery Broderick. The team claims in The Astrophysics Journal that the thin bright light behind the black hole is created by photons thrown around the black hole’s back through its intense gravity.

Why is this news amusing for the science world? The photons are held tightly in orbit right at the point of the event horizon which was otherwise thought to be the point at which light could not escape a black hole’s gravity. And yet, we see this ring of light in an artificial simulation based on the original M87 photograph. Hopefully, with more advanced telescope tech, humans will be able to capture a photon ring in real time. 

2) Evidence of carbon dioxide in a planet outside solar system 

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected evidence of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet called WASP-39 b. This discovery is notable as this is the first time humans have discovered the confirmed presence of carbon dioxide in a planet outside the solar system. The telescope’s findings will be published in Nature magazine. Students from Johns Hopkins University were also a part of the Telescope’s team while making this discovery. 

The first time NASA got a glimpse of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet was back in 2006 when the Hubble Telescope found faint traces in HD 189733b. However, this evidence was not as definitive as Webb’s observations and were never published in a journal. 

3) Footprints of 113 million-year-old dinosaur found in Texas, US

The ongoing drought conditions at Dinosaur Valley State Park near Texas’s Glen Rose have led to some startling discoveries for paleontology buffs. The footprints of what seems like a 113-million-year-old dinosaur have been found in newly-discovered dinosaur tracks. 

The creature has been identified as Acrocanthosaurus, a bipedal dinosaur of a height of over 5 metres. As is evident from the footprints, the dinosaur had three toes and claws on each limb. Another dinosaur’s footprints have been recovered from the vicinity. This one is a Sauroposeidon proteles, a long-necked dinosaur that stood at 15 metres tall.

4) James Webb Space Telescope captures two new images of Jupiter

Two stunning images of Jupiter captured in infrared filters (showing the planet in a bluish hue) have been revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope which has been on a lucky streak in this week’s news. The images are notable for showcasing the presence of aurora (sky projections) in the planet’s poles. The Great Red Spot along with the poles appear the brightest as they have the most high-altitude areas and cloud cover on the planet. 

Also visible are Jupiter’s faint rings and two small moons, Adrastea and Amalthea. The images were captured by a team led by astrophysicists University of California, Berkeley’s Imke de Pater and Paris Observatory’s Thierry Fouchet. 

5) Anthony Fauci announces retirement 

Anthony Fauci (or Dr Fauci as he is popularly known) announced that he will step down from government service this December. The immunologist has been a part of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for over 38 years, dispensing important research and information during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, the 2009 swine influenza pandemic, and of course, the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Even though the 81-year-old has served in the NIAID under seven US Presidents, he clashed the most with Donald Trump. During the pandemic, Fauci countered Trump and several other Republican Senators over Covid-related myths and mismanagement of the pandemic. 

What are Fauci’s post-retirement plans? In a statement published by National Institutes of Health, Fauci writes, “I want to use what I have learned as NIAID Director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats.”