Researchers selected for ‘out of this world’ space exploration program

Two Toowoomba researchers have been chosen for a worldwide program which will allow them to use a telescope known for producing the clearest view yet of the early universe.

Toowoomba researchers are reaching for the stars after they were granted rare access to a space telescope which can capture images of thousands of galaxies.

Known for producing the clearest view yet of the early universe going back as far as 13 billion years, the James Webb Space Telescope is the most powerful of its kind.

The University of Southern Queensland astrophysicist Dr Chelsea Huang said her project would involve comparing the atmosphere of two planets she discovered in 2020.

Both planets which are approximately 190 light years away are part of the TOI-1130 system.

“When stars are young, they are often surrounded by a gaseous protoplanetary disk and planets form within these disks,” she said.

“We believe that exoplanets discovered around stars move along these disks to arrive at their current locations.”

Astrophysicist Dr Chelsea Huang and Astrophysics PhD student Alex Venner have been selected to participate in the General Observer program where they get to use the world-renowned James Webb Space Telescope for respected projects. Picture: Supplied

As part of the project, Dr Huang plans to use the data collected to study the evolution of both planets and decipher how they first moved through the disk.

“These two planets are different; one is a Jupiter-sized planet on an eight-day orbital, while the other is between the size of Earth and Neptune, on a four-day orbit – it’s rare to see this mix and match,” she said.

Meanwhile astrophysics student Alex Venner who is currently completing his PhD, said he hoped to detect a planet orbiting a white dwarf – a dead star which has exhausted its central nuclear fuel and lost its outer layers as a planetary nebula.

Mr Venner said he was looking at a white dwarf called GD 140 because previous investigations indicated a planet was there.

NASA shows the James Webb Telescope being readied for launch. Picture: NASA / Chris Gunn

“Despite the tumultuous nature of this transformation, astronomers think that orbiting planets could survive and for one white dwarf called GD 140, I’m hoping to prove it,” Mr Venner said.

“The white dwarf has measurements of its motion through space, what we call astrometry, which suggests it is being perturbed by an orbiting companion.

“My collaborators looked at existing measurements of the star’s brightness and found that something is contributing a little bit of extra infra-red light to the white dwarf.”

The pair based at the Toowoomba uni campus, were successful in their application for the General Observer program and were two of just four Australian projects approved this round.

NASA launched the telescope, which is currently orbiting the sun and tracing a path 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, in 2021.