Light Observed Moving Matters

The James Webb Space Telescope, which was sent to space in December 2021 and officially started its activities in the first weeks of the summer of 2022, came to the fore with a big observation today. Scientists have succeeded in observing dust particles pushed by ‘light’ in space.

The observation in question was made in a system called WR 140, where two stars revolve around each other. The system features interlocking layers of dust that are propelled by the radiation radiation emitted by the same stars, along with the charged particle winds of the stars. In the new observation, the moments when these dust layers are pushed can be clearly seen.

WR 140 as seen by James Webb:

With this observation, scientists were able to observe this pressure caused by radiation for the first time in history. Talking about his achievements, astronomer Yinuo Han shared how the observation was possible:

“It is difficult to see that starlight causes acceleration because the force decreases with distance and other forces take over. To make the acceleration measurable, the material must be reasonably close to the star or the radiation pressure source must be extra strong.”

The two stars in the WR 140 constantly interact like this: