On February 1, 2020, Jacobs happened to notice a plot showing starlight from TOI-2180 dim by less than half a percent and then return to its previous brightness level over…
Category: Astronomy
NASA’s New IXPE Mission Begins Science Operations
Having spent just over a month in space, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is working and already zeroing in on some of the hottest, most energetic objects in the…
NASA’s Webb Telescope Reaches Major Milestone as Mirror Unfolds
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror, successfully completing the final stage of all major spacecraft deployments to prepare for science operations.
Update: NASA Plans Coverage of Webb Space Telescope Deployments
The Webb mission will explore every phase of cosmic history – from within the solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, and everything in between.…
NASA’s Webb Telescope Launches to See First Galaxies, Distant Worlds
From NASA Editor’s note: This release was updated on Dec. 25 to reflect the observatory’s release at approximately 870 miles (1,400 kilometers). NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched at 7:20 a.m.…
Challenging Einstein’s Greatest Theory with Extreme Stars
The study, published today in the journal Physical Review X, reveals new relativistic effects that, although expected, have now been observed for the first time.
Hubble Witnesses Shock Wave of Colliding Gases in Running Man Nebula
Hubble observed this region to look for stellar jets and planet-forming disks around young stars, and examine how their environment affects the evolution of such disks.
Hubble Snapshot of ‘Molten Ring’ Galaxy Prompts New Research
In this particular snapshot, a science discovery followed the release of a Hubble observation of a striking example of a deep-space optical phenomenon dubbed an “Einstein ring.” The photo was released in…
Mapping the Universe’s Earliest Structures with COSMOS-Webb
When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope begins science operations in 2022, one of its first tasks will be an ambitious program to map the earliest structures in the universe. Called…
Hubble Returns to Full Science Observations and Releases New Images
“I’m thrilled to see that Hubble has its eye back on the universe, once again capturing the kind of images that have intrigued and inspired us for decades,” said NASA…
Goldilocks planets ‘with a tilt’ may develop more complex life
GOLDSCHMIDT CONFERENCE Research News Planets which are tilted on their axis, like Earth, are more capable of evolving complex life. This finding will help scientists refine the search for more…
Chasing cosmic particles with radio antennas in Greenland’s ice
“Detecting radio signals from high-energy neutrinos is a very promising way of significantly increasing the energy range we can access, and thus opening this new window to the cosmos even…
Operations Underway to Restore Payload Computer on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope
NASA continues to work to resolve a problem with the Hubble Space Telescope payload computer that halted on June 13.
Supernovae twins open up new possibilities for precision cosmology
Cosmologists have found a way to double the accuracy of measuring distances to supernova explosions – one of their tried-and-true tools for studying the mysterious dark energy that is making…
Telescopes Unite in Unprecedented Observations of Famous Black Hole
“We knew that the first direct image of a black hole would be groundbreaking,” said Kazuhiro Hada of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, a co-author of a new study…
NASA’s NICER Finds X-ray Boosts in the Crab Pulsar’s Radio Bursts
“Out of more than 2,800 pulsars cataloged, the Crab pulsar is one of only a few that emit giant radio pulses, which occur sporadically and can be hundreds to thousands…
Stellar eggs near galactic center hatching into baby stars
Astronomers found a number of stellar eggs containing baby stars around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies had suggested that the…
Vision of a Stellar Ending
The light from this supernova first reached Earth from the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia around 1667 A.D. If anyone alive at the time saw it, they left no records.…
Peering into a Galaxy’s Dusty Core to Study an Active Supermassive Black Hole
What, precisely, is happening at its core to cause all this activity? Upcoming observations led by Nora Lützgendorf and Macarena García Marín of the European Space Agency using NASA’s James…
NASA’s Juno Reveals Dark Origins of One of Jupiter’s Grand Light Shows
Researchers found dawn storms are born on the nightside of the gas giant. As the planet rotates, the soon-to-be dawn storm rotates with it into the dayside, where these complex…
Serendipitous Juno Spacecraft Detections Shatter Ideas About Origin of Zodiacal Light
From NASA Look up to the night sky just before dawn, or after dusk, and you might see a faint column of light extending up from the horizon. That luminous…
Comet Makes a Pit Stop Near Jupiter’s Asteroids
Hawaii’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescopes located on the extinct volcanoes, one on Mauna Kea and one on Haleakala. Japanese amateur astronomer Seiichi Yoshida tipped off the Hubble…
Rare Blast’s Remains Discovered in Milky Way Center
From NASA Feb 8, 2021 Back to Gallery Astronomers may have found our galaxy’s first example of an unusual kind of stellar explosion. This discovery, made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray…
Unique Solar System Views from NASA Sun-Studying Missions
Using instruments that look not at the Sun itself, but at the constant outflow of solar material from the Sun, the missions — ESA and NASA’s Solar Orbiter, NASA’s Parker…