In 2008, observations from NASA’s now-retired Spitzer infrared space telescope hinted at the presence of neon within the protoplanetary disk of Sun-like star SZ Chamaeleontis (SZ Cha). However, Spitzer’s instruments could not confirm whether this reading was correct. Over a decade after Spitzer’s results were published, the joint NASA, European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope observed SZ Cha and directly detected distinct amounts of neon in the protoplanetary disk of SZ Cha — confirming Spitzer’s observations from 2008.
Webb’s observations, coupled with Spitzer’s data from 2008, are allowing scientists to better understand SZ Cha and its future as a star system while also providing scientists with insight into what our own solar system may have looked like during its formation.