Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2024

16 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING flagship observatory, the now-re- tired Spitzer Space Telescope, the agency’s James Webb Space Tele- scope detected distinct traces of the element neon in the dusty disk sur- rounding the young Sun-like star SZ Chamaeleontis (SZ Cha). Differences in the neon readings between Spitzer and Webb point to a never- before-observed change in high-en- ergy radiation that reaches the disk, which eventually causes it to evapo- by NASA/ESA/CSA Leah Ramsay & Christine Pulliam S cientists are following neon signs in a search for clues to one planetary system’s future and the past of another – our own solar system. Following up on a peculiar reading by NASA’s previous infrared Changing conditions around the young star SZ Chamaeleontis