u/Busy_Yesterday9455

Credit: NASA

Link to the science release on ESA website

The James Webb Space Telescope recently captured images of two planet-forming discs — Tau 042021, located about 450 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, and Oph 163131, about 480 light-years away in Ophiuchus.

These discs, called protoplanetary discs, form around newly born stars. When a clump of gas collapses to form a star, the leftover gas and dust orbits it in a thick disc. Over time, the dust clumps together, eventually building up into planets, while material that doesn't make it becomes asteroids and comets.

This is essentially how our own Solar System formed. What makes these two discs special is their orientation — we're seeing them edge-on, meaning the star's blinding light is mostly blocked by the disc itself, giving scientists a clear view of the surrounding dust. Webb's NIRCam and MIRI instruments captured different dust grain sizes and molecules like hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons across the discs.

Data from Hubble and the ALMA radio telescope added further detail, and intriguingly, a gap spotted in Oph 163131's inner disc may already be a sign of a planet forming and sweeping the area clean.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, ESA/Hubble, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), G. Duchêne, M. Villenave

The Artemis II mission has completed a critical engine burn that will propel the Orion spacecraft on its journey to the far side of the Moon.

The translunar injection burn began at 19:49 EDT (23:49 GMT) and lasted for just under six minutes.

Link to the video from NASA (with sound)

NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), lifts off at 6:35 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA Kennedy.

The Artemis II test flight will take the crew members on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.

Credit: NASA

Credit: Chuck Briggs / Spaceflight Now

Credit: Aaron Burnett

Link to the video from NASA

Credit: NASA

Credit: NOAA/SWPC

Source: NOAA/GOES-19