Thomas Carpentier

@thocarp.bsky.social

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PhD Researcher at the EUI in Firenze, studying the history of the European Space Agency. Processing space telescopes data for fun 28 He/him

A vertical view of a lenticular or elliptical galaxy by the JWST in near-infrared wavelength. The gas structures are seen in red and orange colours, stretching from the top of the image to the bottom. In the middle lies the centre of the galaxy, looking really bright as this galaxy hosts an active galactical nucleus. Many nebulae of the galaxy can be spotted here and there, with stars in the galaxy appearing like small dots.
Infrared observation of a star forming region, full of gas. Most of the gases appear in red, orange, and yellow colours. Red stripes of gas appear in the forefront of the structure, while blue and white areas appear inside of it. Hundreds of stars can be seen in the background
Two galaxies merging looking exactly like a rose (the bottom galaxy being the peduncle, the upper one being the pistil and the petals) seen in visible light. Dozens of background galaxies can be spotted as well.
A gigantic gas cloud seen in infrared spreading across the entire image. The gas appears mostly in orange, although a blue-ish veil can be spotted in the area where new born stars pushed the gas away. Hundreds of stars can be spotted as well, mostly appearing in blue. On the top-left corner, a huge star can be seen with gas probably being pushed away.
Red patches of gas looking like jellyfishes seen in infrared light. A red and grey veil of gas can also be spotted in the entire image. The background is full of stars and galaxies.
The black and white image of the Euclid/VIS data.
The Cat's Eye Nebula picture combining Euclid/VIS (visible light) and JWST/MIRI (mid-infrared) data. At the very centre lies the dying star, appearing like a bright dot. The nebula itself looks, as its name hints, like an eye. The expanding gas is appearing brownish, orange and blue.
The slow death of a star seen in infrared. The star is ejecting its outer layers at a slow pace, creating what looks like an expecting bubble of gas. The material ejected by the star is appearing as orange/red here, looking like a skull (hence its name). Dozens of stars in our galaxy and background galaxies can be spotted everywhere around it (and even behind it!).
Two jets, appearing red and violet, being ejected by a central protostar, hidden behind gas. The jets are extending to the left and right parts of the image. Two perpendicular thinner jets can be seen as well, coming from another protostar. Hundreds of stars can be seen in the background of the image, appearing like bright dots with the JWST trademark diffraction spikes.
The centre part of a spiral galaxy where the middle is extremely bright, where the supermassive black hole is located. The middle is surrounded by rings of gas, appearing in darker coulours (mostly red and orange). Some blue gas part can be seen drifting away from the middle as the galaxy is ejecting waves of gas because of its activity.
Another infrared observation of the C/2025 K1 comet, seen by the JWST/MIRI. On the left, the main part of the comet, seen as a bright dot, and its coma. On the right, two small dots which are fragments of the comet.
An infrared observation of a comet, C/2025 K1, seen by the JWST. On the left, the main part of the comet, seen as a bright dot, and its coma. On the right, two small dots which are fragments of the comet.
A gas cloud seen in infrared light. Near the upper-centre part of the image, a pillar-like structure, just like a finger, can be seen, with a young star at the tip of it. The gas composing the cloud appears in red and orange colours. From top left to top right, a veil of gas can also be spotted, in beige and red colours. It is in the background of that cloud. Dozens of stars cna be spotted as well, with a big one on the centre-bottom part, carving around it the gas cloud thanks to its stellars winds.
A spiral galaxy seen in visible light. The centre is extremely bright, while the arms appear in red and orange. Inside the arms some blue areas can be spotted. These areas are clusters of stars! On the left part of the image, a part of one of the arms appears like going up.
On the left handside: the issue October 2025 of the French journal "Reflets de la Physique" with a nebula picture on its cover. On the right handside: the "Onbegrensd Universum" book, written by Govert Schilling.
A large portion of a gas cloud seen in infrared light. Most of the cloud appears in red, orange and yellow colours. Some sort of cavities can be seen in the cloud, being brighter and in blue: this is where large stars being born have pushed away the gas around them. Hundreds of small dots can be spotted everywhere, being stars in the LMC galaxy around and in the observed region.
November 18, 2025 - Longueuil Quebec Today, at the SpaceBound 2025 Conference, the Honourable Mélanie Joly Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, made he historic announcement that Canada will increase its investment to Europear Space Agency (ESA) programs by $528.5 million. This investment represents a tenfold increase compared to previous contributions and is set ta advance research and development of Canadian-made space technologies for poth civilian and defence purposes. It wil help build an industrial base that is ready and capable of supporting Canada's tommercial, defence and security needs.
An infrared observation of a dense gas cloud region, the Eagle Nebula. The whole image is covered by the gas, mostly appearing orange and blue. On the right hand side of the image lie the Pillars of Creation: three finger-like gas formations, looking like a claw. Some bright dots can be spotted as well: stars being born in that region!
The NGC-2440 planetary nebula seen in infrared light. The outer part looks like a bubble that is expanding in every directions, appearing mostly in grey and violet colours. In the middle of that bubble lie the outer layers, appearing in orange, of the dead star being pushed away, mostly towards the right and left side of the bubble. In the very centre of that lies a little white dot, which I suspect is the remnant of the dead star: the white dwarf. Several stars and far away galaxies can be spotted in the background.
A gas region seen in infrared light. At the centre of the image lies a protostar creating jets. Other jets can be spotted in the image. The gas appears brown and blue where there is no star; orange, red and violet where stars are.
Observation of a gas cloud in infrared light. The gas can be seen in the whole image in different colours: some blue parts, which are hotter, beige, orange and violet. A orange/red little cloud can be spotted on the left handside of the image, in front of the giant cloud. Dozens of stars can be seen as well. A nice detail: a faint bubble-like cloud can be seen on the right handside!
Observation of Uranus by the JWST. The planet itself appears mostly blue, but the pole, a big patch, is white. Some storms can also be spotted near the pole. The rings of the planet can be spotted in infrared light, so they appear in that image (in orange color).
A big gas cloud where new stars are being born seen in infrared light. The gas cloud itself appears in red, orange, and violet colours, occupying almost the entire image. Hundreds of dots are spread across the picture, as they are stars in our own galaxy.
An observation of a star cluster by the Hubble Space Telescope. Thousands of stars can be seen in the image, appearing in blue, red, orange or white colors. A blue and white veil of gas goes from the upper left part of the image to the middle down part of it.
Jets created by the new stars being born
A focus on a star forming region seen in infrared light. Hundreds of white dots, big and small ones, can be seen everywhere in the image as they are stars! A lot of gas can be seen in the image, covering almost every part of it. This gas is what is helping the new stars to be formed there. In the upper left part, multiple jets can be spotted: they are stars being born at this very moment! A lot of background galaxies can also be spotted in the whole image
The same image but with indication: the rings are highlighted by dashed-lines; a scale on the bottom shows that the exoplanet is located some 50+ AU from the star and the farthest ring has a diameter of 200 AU; the North is indicated on the top and the East is on the left.
A star, which has been blocked by a black circle, surrounded by three rings (the smaller one is the nearest, the biggest one the farthest). A red dot can be spotted on the right side of the second ring. The rings are in orange colour.
The entrance and the tower of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence
A planetary nebula seen in near-infrared. The whole nebula looks like a spider or a scorpion, with the centre being extremely bright with red clouds around it, while the gas structure is mostly orange and yellow. Thousands of stars can be seen everywhere in the image appearing like big bright object, or little bright dots.
A lenticular galaxy seen in mid-infrared light. A lenticular galaxy is a galaxy with a circular shape, but with no distinct spiral arm. The gas and dust seen in mid-infrared appear orange in the image, everywhere in the disk. The centre is way brighter than the rest. A blue veil encompasses the entire galaxy: this is the gas and dust visible in the shorter wavelength filters.
The Barcelona Cathedral
Three books on a table: "El 19 de Juliol de 1936" written by Abel Paz; "Hommage to Catalonia" written by George Orwell; "Republica i Guerra Civil a Catalunya" written by Pelai Pagés Blanch
The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Montjuïc.
Proposal Abstract We propose the first sub-arcsecond imaging campaign of the giant, asymmetric edge-on disk IRAS 23077+6707 (Dracula's Chivito/DraChi) to study its dust grain structure and evolution from 0.4-1.7 microns. DraChi is enormous: spanning approx. 14 arcsec on the sky, it is far in excess of any average protoplanetary disk extents, making it the largest protoplanetary disk thus far discovered. Moreover, this disk is highly asymmetric, yet has only been imaged at low resolution from the ground with Pan-STARRS. These images show not only two faint filaments in the disk's northern part that extend well beyond 20 arcsec, but also various brightness asymmetries. We propose the imaging of this enigmatic disk in only three HST orbits using the WFC3/UVIS broadband filters F438W, F606W and F814W and the WFC3/IR broadband filters F105W, F125W and F160W to map at unprecedented angular scales the wavelength dependence of the disk's midplane thickness, determine the dust grain properties and the degree of their vertical settling and ultimately probe the extent to which ongoing planet formation is driving DraChi's asymmetric substructures.
The same disk seen in infrared light. Some structures in the disk appears clearer here, like some sort of "eruptions" of gas emanating from the centre part.
A protoplanetary disk seen edge-on in visible light. The gas in the center of the disk appears red and orange, while the upper and bottom parts are brighter and whiter. Several background stars can be spotted as well.
A nebula seen in near-infrared light. Three main cavities in the gas can be seen next to each other looking like the paw of a cat (hence the name of the nebula). The cavities were formed because of the stellar winds of young massive stars pushing the gas around it. They appear in blue and white colors here, while the gas formation in the nebula appears red and orange. Hundreds of stars, looking like dots, can be seen everywhere in the image.
A spiral galaxy seen in infrared light. Just like the Hubble version, the spiral arms can be seen in red and orange colours, with one of them divided into multiple smaller branches. So many background galaxies can be spotted everywhere, appearing mostly red.
A spiral galaxy seen in visible light. The centre of the galaxy is almost at the centre of the image, appearing really bright. It has two main spiral arms, but one of them is divided into smaller arms, stretching onto the bottom of the image. The other arm is stretching to the top of the image onto the right side, like a coma. The arms appear in red and orange colours, while the star clusters inside of them appear blue. Some background galaxies can be spotted, mainly in the top right part of the image.
A focus on the centre of the galaxy. A gas cloud formation can be seen, looking like jets.
A galaxy with no apparent form as it contains no gas arm. However, there are dots everywhere in the image, being stars and star systems in that same galaxy! The centre is so bright that it produces the JWST's diffraction spikes equivalent to the ones of the stars in our own galaxy. There is some gas at the centre though, appearing violet in the image. Dozens of background galaxies can be spotted as well.
A spiral galaxy seen edge on in infrared light. The centre is extremely bright, with diffraction spikes, as the supermassive black hole of this galaxy is active. The arms are seen in orange and red colours. Some background galaxies can be seen everywhere, with two beautiful spiral galaxies at the top left corner and at the bottom right corner
A spiral galaxy, NGC-4666, seen in infrared light. The centre is bright and mostly white. The arms are seen in red and orange colours. The galaxy spreads from the left side of the image onto the right. Several background galaxies can be spotted on the upper and bottom parts of the image (even through the arms of NGC-4666!).
A part of a huge cluster inside the LMC in near-infrared light. Some red gas clouds can be seen, where new stars are being born and heating their surroundings. These parts look like cliffs and pillars. There is also a white and transparent veil in the whole image, which indicates the presence of colder gas. Hundreds of bright dots can be seen everywhere in the image: they are stars! There are even some spiral galaxies in the background
Two peculiar galaxies seen in infrared light. The NGC-4490 galaxy is on the left, looking like a cocoon. The centre is a bit brighter than the rest. Red gas arms can be seen around it, but not in a spiral form. Nebulae are located inside those arms, appearing in magenta colours. On the right lies the smaller NGC-4485 galaxy. No distinct arms can be seen inside this galaxy. There is some gas formations between these two galaxies, a kind of bridge connecting them: as they are interacting with each other, the gas from the smaller one is attracted by the bigger one! Some background galaxies can also be seen in the image, with a beautiful spiral galaxy located in the top right part.
A spiral galaxy seen in visible light. The centre is bright. It has two spiral arms, making it looking like an "S". The arms appear red where the gas is located, and blue where the star clusters are. Some background galaxies can also be spotted, appearing mainly red and orange.
A jet coming from a huge elliptical galaxy. The galaxy itself is like a bright dot in the centre of the image; the jet is red and going from the centre to the right hand side of the image. Many stars can be seen in the image, appearing like little dots, with a red gas cloud on the left hand side.
The same edge-on galaxy but seen in visible light. Only a part of the galaxy can be seen, the centre being left off. The arms appear rzed and orange, with darker colours in the middle of the arms. A lot of star clusters can be spotted in the middle of the arms as well.
A spiral galaxy seen edge-on in near-infrared light. The bulb at its centre is visible as a brightest area than the rest. The arms appear like a bar, in orange and red colours. The JWST's high-resolution also offers us a view of the stars inside the galaxy, with *A LOT* of bright dots everywhere in and around the galaxy. So background galaxies can also be spotted.
A spiral galaxy seen in mid infrared. The centre looks like a small ring as the arms are quite voluminous. They appear in white/silver colour, with some red patches inside of them.
A jet coming from a very bright dot in the centre of the image. The jet itself is blue, with dozens of stars in the background.