For as long as humans have gazed into the night sky, we have wondered about life beyond the Earth. Scientists now know that several places in our solar system might have conditions suitable for life.
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has appointed Dr. Kristen McQuinn as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Mission Head. She will assume this role in mid-January 2024.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a high-resolution look at Herbig-Haro 211 (HH 211), a bipolar jet traveling through interstellar space at supersonic speeds.
Carbon-bearing molecules have been discovered in the atmosphere of the habitable zone exoplanet K2-18 b by an international team of astronomers using data from the NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. These results are consistent with an exoplanet that may contain ocean-covered surface underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. This discovery provides a fascinating glimpse into a planet unlike anything else in our Solar System, and raises interesting prospects about potentially habitable worlds elsewhere in the Universe.
A compact grouping of hundreds of thousands of stars nestled among the billions of stars in the Milky Way's disk appears in this Hubble image. Terzan 12 is among about 150 ancient globular star clusters orbiting our galaxy.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered new details in Supernova 1987A with its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. Structures, some only visible in infrared wavelengths, provide clues into the development of supernovas over time.
Astronomers have uncovered a link between Neptune’s shifting cloud abundance and the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle that increases the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the planet. This discovery is based on three decades of observations by Hubble.
Detecting extremely distant stars, or those closest in time to the big bang, can provide insights into the first few chapters of the history of our universe. In 2022, the Hubble Space Telescope broke its own record, and spotted the most distant star yet. This star, nicknamed Earendel, emitted its light within the universe’s first billion years.
The Fishhook. The Thin One. These are just two of the striking targets revealed in new detail by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. In July 2022 Webb observed El Gordo, a galaxy cluster that existed 6.2 billion years after the big bang. It was selected as the most massive galaxy cluster known at that time in cosmic history.
A young planet whirling around a petulant red dwarf star is changing in unpredictable ways orbit-by-orbit. It is so close to its parent star that it experiences a consistent, torrential blast of energy, which evaporates its hydrogen atmosphere — causing it to puff off the planet. But during one orbit observed with Hubble, the planet looked like it wasn't losing any material at all, while an orbit observed with Hubble a year and a half later showed clear signs of atmospheric loss.
Like kittens, actively forming stars are balls of energy. But instead of being overtaken by the zoomies, stars emit energy in the form of jets, creating fantastic, textured scenes.
Water, water, everywhere – not in drops, but as steam. Scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered that thirsty planets in the PDS 70 system have access to a reservoir of water. Importantly, the water vapor was found within 100 million miles of the star – the region where terrestrial planets like Earth may be forming. (The Earth orbits 93 million miles from our Sun.)
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the asteroid Dimorphos, taken on December 19, 2022, nearly three months after the asteroid was impacted by NASA's DART mission. Hubble's sensitivity reveals a few dozen boulders knocked off the asteroid by the force of the collision. The boulders range in size from three feet to 22 feet across, based on Hubble brightness measurements. They are drifting away from the asteroid at little more than a half-mile per hour.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope caps a successful first year of science, and stunning imagery, with a detailed view of the closest star-forming region to Earth, the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, resulting in a dynamic image that belies the region’s relative quiet – and practically begs for explanation of what exactly we are looking at.
The Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach has released a new scientific visualization of data from the CEERS (Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science) Survey. The video represents Webb’s exploration of the region known as the Extended Groth Strip, revealing many galaxies that have never been seen before. It displays a wealth of galaxies across the universe and concludes on Maisie’s Galaxy, which resides 13.4 billion light-years away from Earth.
It’s a bonanza! The universe is absolutely teeming with black holes. Researchers have long known this, but less massive black holes that existed in the early universe were too dim to detect – that is until the James Webb Space Telescope began taking observations. Researchers behind the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey are among the first to begin plucking these bright, extremely distant objects from Webb’s highly detailed images and data.
Supernovae, the explosive deaths of stars, are some of the universe’s biggest bursts of energy and light. When they erupt, one supernova can shine even brighter than an entire galaxy. It’s a fitting reason for NGC 6946, located 22 million light-years away from Earth, to be nicknamed the Fireworks Galaxy. In the past century, nearly a dozen supernovae have been observed flashing in the arms of this galaxy. This includes Supernova 2004et and Supernova 2017eaw, which researchers are now studying with the James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). Their findings have been surprising—MIRI detected large amounts of dust within the ejecta of each of these objects. The mass found by researchers supports the theory that supernovae played a key role in supplying dust to the early universe.
Woven across our universe is a weblike structure of galaxies called the cosmic web. Galaxies are strung along filaments in this vast web, which also contains enormous voids.
Carbon compounds form the foundations of all known life, and as such are of a particular interest to scientists working to understand both how life developed on Earth, and how it could potentially develop elsewhere in our universe. As such, the study of interstellar organic (carbon-containing) chemistry is an area of keen fascination to many astronomers. An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to detect a carbon compound known as methyl cation for the first time. This molecule is important because it aids the formation of more complex carbon-based molecules. It was found in a young star system with a protoplanetary disk, 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula.
Experts created two new visual and auditory experiences to explore the complexity and beauty of a compact galaxy group known as Stephan’s Quintet. The guided three-dimensional visualization surveys the galaxies — their structures, characteristics, and interactions — captured in multiple wavelengths of light by some of NASA’s great observatories. The sonifications scan two-dimensional images of the quintet, translating the data into sound to reveal the depth and richness this intricate environment holds.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has successfully measured the heat radiating from TRAPPIST-1 c, an exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. With a dayside temperature of about 225 degrees Fahrenheit, it is the coolest rocky planet ever characterized using this method. Unfortunately for those hoping that the TRAPPIST-1 system is a true analog to our own, the results are a bit disappointing. While TRAPPIST-1 c is roughly the same size and mass as Venus and receives the same amount of radiation from its star, it appears unlikely to have the same thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. This indicates that the planet, and perhaps the system as a whole, may have formed with very little water. The result is the latest in the quest to determine whether planetary atmospheres can survive the violent environs of a red dwarf star.
Only a few hundred million years after the big bang, the cosmos was brimming with opaque hydrogen gas that trapped light at some wavelengths from stars and galaxies. Over the first billion years, the gas became fully transparent – allowing the light to travel freely. Researchers have long sought definitive evidence to explain this flip.
Artificial satellites photobomb about 10% of Hubble exposures on celestial targets. But a typical satellite trail is very thin and will affect less than 0.5% of a single Hubble exposure. Astronomers have developed tools for cleaning the images and improving the quality of Hubble science observations.
With its large, light-gathering mirror and infrared sensitivity, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is uniquely suited to study galaxies that existed in the early universe, just a few hundred million years after the big bang. Just over one whole month of Webb’s observing time is devoted to the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES. JADES will peer deeply into the universe to study some of the faintest and most distant galaxies. Among the program’s first findings: Hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was less than 600 million years old, and galaxies that have undergone repeated bursts of star formation.
Enceladus—a tiny, icy moon of Saturn—is one of the most intriguing objects in the search for signs of life beyond our own planet.
Astronomers using Hubble have identified some of the best evidence yet for an intermediate-mass black hole weighing roughly 800 times our Sun's mass that may be lurking in the heart of the closest globular star cluster to Earth. The suspected black hole can’t be seen directly, but the motion of stars moving around the black hole betrays its presence.
Solar system scientists took NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on a treasure hunt in the asteroid belt, and what they didn’t find turned out to be as significant as what they did.
A new Webb Space Telescope image of the bright, nearby star Fomalhaut reveals its planetary system with details never seen before, including nested concentric rings of dust. These belts most likely are carved by the gravitational forces produced by embedded, unseen planets. Similarly, inside our solar system Jupiter corrals the asteroid belt of leftover debris that lies between us and the giant planet. Astronomers first discovered Fomalhaut’s disk in 1983. But there has never been a view as spectacular – or as revealing – as Webb’s.
Astronomers using Hubble have uncovered two eerie shadows from gas-and-dust disks encircling the star TW Hydrae. They are evidence for two unseen planets that have pulled dust into their orbits, which blocks light from the central star and makes shadows.
Webb Finds Water Vapor, But From a Rocky Planet or Its Star?
The Webb Space Telescope's latest findings are the first to spectroscopically confirm distances for a young protocluster of galaxies just 650 million years after the big bang. Astronomers think the protocluster represents the earliest stages of what will develop into a massive conglomeration like the Coma Cluster, which includes thousands of gravitationally bound member galaxies.
Astronomers are celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope’s 33rd launch anniversary with an ethereal photo of the star-forming region NGC 1333. Hubble’s colorful view unveils an effervescent cauldron of glowing gasses and dust stirred up and blown around by several hundred newly forming stars embedded within the dark cloud.
A stunning smash-up of two spiral galaxies shines in infrared with the light of more than a trillion suns. Collectively called Arp 220, the colliding galaxies ignited a tremendous burst of star birth. Each of the combining galactic cores is encircled by a rotating, star-forming ring blasting out the glaring light that Webb captured in infrared. This brilliant light creates a prominent, spiked, starburst feature.
A lot of galaxies look like cotton balls when seen through a telescope. They are classified as elliptical galaxies. Now, with the help of Hubble, astronomers have estimated that the nearby elliptical galaxy M87 is "triaxial," or potato-shaped, if it could be viewed in 3D.
The explosion of a star is a dramatic event, but the remains that the star leaves behind can be even more dramatic. A new mid-infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provides one stunning example. It shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), created by a stellar explosion 340 years ago from Earth's perspective. The image displays vivid colors and intricate structures begging to be examined more closely. Cas A is the youngest known remnant from an exploding, massive star in our galaxy, offering astronomers an opportunity to perform stellar forensics to understand the star’s death.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently observed Uranus, and the resulting image highlights a complex system of rings as well as a bright polar cap and likely storm clouds.
Hubble observed a curious linear feature that was first dismissed as an imaging artifact from the telescope’s cameras. But follow-up observations indicate it is a 200,000-light-year-long chain of young blue stars created in the wake of a runaway black hole.
Hubble has found a rare pair of quasars inside two merging galaxies. These brilliant beacons are powered by supermassive black holes. The galaxies will eventually merge—and so will the quasars. This will result in an even more powerful black hole.
NASA has selected 24 new Fellows for its prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP). The NHFP is one of the highlights of NASA's pursuit of excellence in astrophysics. Over 450 applicants vied for the 2023 fellowships. Each fellowship provides the awardee up to three years of support.
Hubble Space Telescope has provided fresh evidence that Saturn's ring system is heating the planet's atmosphere. The phenomenon has never before been seen in the solar system. It potentially could provide a tool for predicting if planets around other stars have ring systems too.
Acting as a giant touch-free thermometer, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has successfully measured heat radiating from the innermost of the seven rocky planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, a cool red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. With a dayside temperature of 450 degrees Fahrenheit, the planet is just about perfect for baking pizza. But with no atmosphere to speak of, it may not be the best spot to dine out. The result is the first from a comprehensive set of Webb studies of the TRAPPIST-1 system, and marks an important step in determining whether planets orbiting tiny but violent red dwarfs, the most common type of star in the Galaxy, can sustain atmospheres needed to support life.
New pictures of Jupiter and Uranus from Hubble reveal complex weather activities on these remote gas giant planets. The forecast for Jupiter is blustery winds, while the outlook for Uranus is smoggy as northern summer approaches.
Ever had sand hot whip across your face? That’s a soothing experience compared to the volatile conditions discovered high in the atmosphere of planet VHS 1256 b. Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope proved that its clouds are made up of silicate particles, ranging from fine specks to small grains. Webb’s observations also show clear signatures of water, methane and carbon monoxide, and provide evidence for carbon dioxide.
Wolf-Rayet stars are a rare prelude to the famous final act of massive stars: the supernova. In one of its first observations, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124 in unprecedented detail.
A time-lapse movie from the Hubble Space Telescope captures the impact of asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by NASA's DART spacecraft on Sept. 26, 2022. The movie shows three overlapping stages of the impact aftermath: the formation of an ejecta cone; the spiral swirl of debris caught up along the asteroid's orbit about its companion asteroid; and the tail swept behind the asteroid by the pressure of sunlight. Later on, Hubble records the tail splitting in two.
The saying goes, ‘From a tiny acorn grows the mighty oak.’ This is accurate not just here on Earth, but in our solar system and beyond.
This new image of Pandora's Cluster (Abell 2744) from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals 50,000 infrared sources and extensive gravitational lensing.
Hubble heralds the start of "spoke season" at Saturn with the appearance of subtle smudges amid the rings on the left of its latest image.
An asteroid roughly the size of Rome’s Colosseum — between 300 to 650 feet (100 to 200 meters) in length — has been detected by an international team of European astronomers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The object, shown in this artist’s conception, is likely the smallest observed to date by Webb. The detection was serendipitous — the asteroid was found in calibration images of a different asteroid. The lucky finding suggests Webb can detect many such objects.
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have, for the first time, directly measured the mass of a single, isolated white dwarf – the surviving core of a burned-out Sun-like star. Researchers found that the white dwarf is 56 percent the mass of our Sun. This agrees with earlier theoretical predictions of the white dwarf’s mass, and corroborates current theories of how white dwarfs evolve as the end product of a typical star’s evolution. Astronomers had to employ a trick of nature, called gravitational microlensing, to weigh the dwarf.
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