Researchers used CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array to study distant star-forming clumps and discovered massive amounts of molecular hydrogen gas, a key fuel for star formation. The telescope's upgraded bandwidth and sensitivity enabled the detection of carbon monoxide, allowing scientists to estimate galaxy star-formation rates.
Messier 61 is a massive spiral galaxy with a diameter of 100,000 light-years, located 55 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy features six supernovae, making it one of the top galaxies for supernova observations.
Astronomers used Hubble to observe light from the close double-star system T Pyxidis during its latest outburst in April 2011. The team assembled a 3-D map of the structure around the nova, revealing a disk-shaped debris disk populated with fast-moving ejecta.
Astronomers have two opportunities to detect planets around Proxima Centauri using a rare stellar alignment. The closest encounters in October 2014 and February 2016 will allow scientists to measure the mass of the red dwarf, which could indicate the presence of smaller terrestrial planets.
The Ring Nebula's true shape has been revealed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, showing a more complex structure than previously thought. The new observations have allowed researchers to construct the most precise 3-D model of the nebula, revealing details such as a blue, football-shaped structure and dark, irregular knots of dense gas.
A team of astronomers has solved a decade-old puzzle by accurately measuring the distance to star system SS Cygni at 372 light years. The team used radio telescopes and coordinated with amateur astronomers to pinpoint the exact location of the system, confirming their understanding of exotic objects like black holes.
Researchers have found evidence of building blocks for Earth-sized planets in the atmospheres of two burned-out stars called white dwarfs. The silicon and low levels of carbon in these dead stars suggest that asteroid-like debris is falling onto them, potentially creating rocky planet assembly around stars.
Astronomers have found signs of rocky material in the atmospheres of two dead stars, suggesting that terrestrial planets may still exist. The debris detected around these white dwarfs is thought to be the remains of asteroids that were shredded by the star's gravity.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed the remains of a star that exploded as a supernova around 600 years ago. The wispy gas structure, known as SNR B0519-69.0, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud and features a striking blood-red color.
A newly-discovered pulsar and its white-dwarf companion have provided physicists with a unique opportunity to study the nature of gravity, with General Relativity predictions holding up well under extreme conditions. The system's unique characteristics make it an unprecedented test for alternative theories of gravity.
Astronomers discovered a rare galaxy that turns gas into stars with near 100% efficiency, outperforming even the most efficient engines. This highly tuned galaxy forms stars at a rate hundreds of times faster than our Milky Way, with the majority of its starlight emitted by a small region.
The iconic Horsehead Nebula is seen in a new infrared image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing its ethereal and transparent appearance at this wavelength. The nebula, located about 1,500 light-years away, is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud and is being formed by massive stars.
Astronomers have found the farthest Type Ia supernova, named SN Wilson, with a distance of over 13.8 billion years ago. This discovery provides insights into how these stars explode and test theories about dark energy.
Astronomers at CU-Boulder used the Hubble Space Telescope to study a quasar's impact on early universe conditions. The team found that 'sideline quasars' likely teamed up with the bright quasar to heat helium gas, preventing small galaxy formation.
The James Webb Space Telescope will feature 18 individual mirror segments that require precise alignment at extremely cold temperatures in space. The telescope's backplane is a truss structure made of lightweight but stiff tubes, holding the mirror segments together.
The Thirty Meter Telescope will be the most powerful telescope ever constructed, allowing researchers to detect and study light from the earliest stars and galaxies. With NSF's support, the project aims to push the boundaries of scientific discovery in astronomy.
The James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror backplane support structure is nearing completion with the recent assembly of its wings. The complex wing assemblies feature 900 separate parts made of lightweight graphite composite materials.
The NASA grant will support the U.S. institutions in building lasers and monitoring equipment for calibrating the telescope's optics from around the globe. The Extreme Universe Space Observatory aims to discover the sources of ultra high-energy cosmic rays by observing their traces in the atmosphere.
Astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to determine the age of the oldest known star, HD 140283, which could be as old as 14.5 billion years. The new age estimate reduces measurement uncertainty, overlapping with the universe's age, and provides a precise calculation of the star's intrinsic brightness.
Researchers have measured the distance to our nearest neighbor galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, using rare eclipsing binaries. The new measurement refines an astronomical calculation that helps measure the expansion of the universe, decreasing uncertainty in the Hubble constant.
Astronomers have captured a striking image of a spiral galaxy distorted by gravitational lensing, resembling an alien from the classic computer game 'Space Invaders'. The foreground cluster of galaxies acts as a natural lens to magnify and brighten light from background galaxies, creating this surreal landscape.
The James Webb Space Telescope will be displayed life-size at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, featuring exhibits and educational activities for all ages. The telescope model weighs 12,000 lbs. and is being assembled at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
In 2012, the James Webb Space Telescope made significant progress with the delivery of two primary mirrors, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), and the Fine Guidance Sensor and Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS). The telescope's center section backplane structure was also completed, supporting the mirrors and o...
Astronomers Robert Gendler and Jay GaBany combined archival Hubble images with their own ground-based observations to create a detailed photo illustration of the galaxy. The resulting image reveals the optical component of the galaxy's 'anomalous arms' and provides insights into the galaxy's structure and composition.
The new telescope, with a 100m x 100m collecting area, will scan half of the sky daily and synthesize an image of the sky nearly one billion times per second. The CHIME telescope aims to map a quarter of the observable universe, helping scientists understand the history of the Universe and dark energy's role in its expansion.
The famous Chamber A thermal vacuum testing chamber, upgraded to accommodate the James Webb Space Telescope, will undergo a 90-day test period. The test will confirm the telescope's performance in cold temperatures and include operating system tests.
The aft-optics subsystem of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has completed performance testing, marking a significant milestone in the telescope's integration and test activities. The successful completion of this testing demonstrates that the AOS can withstand the extreme temperatures and vibration environment of space.
Researchers led by Nicolas Lehner found large quantities of cool gas with low heavy element content surrounding modern galaxies. This gas has not been strongly processed through stars, providing a substantial reservoir for fueling continued star formation in modern galaxies.
A team of astronomers used the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes to create the most detailed weather map yet for a brown dwarf. They found that the object has a stormy atmosphere with planet-sized clouds, similar to those on Earth. The research provides new insights into the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and exoplanets beyond our solar...
Astronomers discovered a mysterious planet circling the nearby star Fomalhaut with an unusual elliptical orbit. The team hypothesizes that another undetected planet may have gravitationally ejected Fomalhaut B, sending it on a collision course with a vast dust ring.
Astronomers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Penn State have released a vast image gallery featuring ultraviolet and optical images captured by the Swift satellite's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. The collection includes early images, stunning views of galaxies, and rare types of stars.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been providing amazing images of the universe since April 1990, while the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope will reveal mysteries of the universe in much greater detail. The new free e-Books offer interactive resources and insights into both telescopes' science and technology.
Researchers used the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope and Hubble Space Telescope to study 21 globular clusters, finding that a few were young with blue stragglers distributed throughout, while others were old with the stars clumped in the centre. This reveals big differences in the speed of evolution from cluster to cluster.
Astronomers have discovered a previously unseen population of seven primitive galaxies that formed more than 13 billion years ago. The galaxies were observed using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in near-infrared light, allowing researchers to study the early universe.
Astronomers have discovered seven primitive galaxies from a distant population formed over 13 billion years ago. The observations reveal the earliest years of cosmic history and provide new insights into galaxy formation.
A team of Caltech astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to discover seven primitive and distant galaxies, existing 13 billion years ago. The galaxies formed during the 'cosmic dawn' period, with their numbers steadily increasing over time, supporting the idea that first galaxies didn't form in a sudden burst.
Astronomers have found that a merging galaxy cluster's 'dark core' does not appear to be over-dense in dark matter. The study uses improved Hubble camera capabilities to map the cluster's dark matter distribution, with a ratio of 2.5 to 1 of dark matter to normal matter, aligning with expectations.
The study uses combined imaging power to unveil spectacular jets of the galaxy, powered by a 2.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The jets exhibit unusual ring-like structures and are composed of high-energy plasma beams, subatomic particles, and magnetic fields.
Astronomers have discovered a distant galaxy, MACS0647-JD, which offers a glimpse into the early universe 420 million years after the Big Bang. The galaxy was magnified by a massive cluster using gravitational lensing, revealing three images of the same object.
Astronomers have found a galaxy whose light traveled 13.3 billion years to reach Earth, offering a glimpse into the universe's early stages. The newly discovered galaxy, MACS0647-JD, is only a tiny fraction of the size of our Milky Way and may be one of many building blocks of a galaxy.
A new analysis of Hubble observations suggests Fomalhaut b is a rare, uniquely massive planet shrouded by dust. The team found the planet remained at constant brightness, contradicting earlier interpretations of it as a transient dust cloud.
Astronomers discovered a quasar hidden behind a dusty galaxy, where no starlight is visible due to intense dust blocking. The James Webb Space Telescope will help detect the underlying stars, which were not seen by Hubble.
New observations of distant galaxies reveal that internal motions were more disordered in the past, and the Hubble sequence of well-ordered disk galaxies evolved from earlier chaotic forms. This challenges the long-held assumption about disk galaxy formation, finding they evolved gradually over 8 billion years.
The Las Cumbres Observatory's Network of Robotic Echelle Spectrograph (NRES) prototype has achieved its first light, primarily designed to support the study of exoplanets. The NRES will extend the capabilities of the LCOGT 1-meter network with six high-resolution spectrographs.
Researchers at MIT's Haystack Observatory have measured the radius of a black hole at the center of a distant galaxy using the Event Horizon Telescope. The measurement confirms Einstein's theory of general relativity by showing that the accretion disk is spinning in the same direction as the black hole.
The eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) image is a small fraction of the angular diameter of the full moon, containing about 5,500 galaxies. The XDF reveals galaxies that span back 13.2 billion years in time, providing a 'time tunnel into the distant past' and shedding light on the early universe's dramatic birth and evolution.
The James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror is composed of 18 hexagonal-shaped assemblies weighing over 40 kilograms each. The delivery of the first two mirrors marks an important step towards the telescope's integration and fulfillment of its scientific potential, enabling study of distant galaxies and the universe's formation.
Astronomers have detected a potentially most distant galaxy ever seen, offering a glimpse into the universe's earliest epochs. The galaxy, observed through gravitational lensing, has a redshift of 9.6 and is estimated to be less than 200 million years old.
Astronomers using Hubble data observe two massive star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud that may be in early stages of merger. The discovery sheds light on the origin of large star clusters and helps scientists understand galaxy formation.
The Phoenix Cluster, discovered by the NSF's South Pole Telescope, is creating stars at an unprecedented rate of 20 times faster than in other clusters. The cluster's central galaxy and super-massive black hole are undergoing unsustainable growth, adding mass quickly before it becomes unsustainable.
The James Webb Space Telescope's NIRISS and FGS instruments, developed by University of Montreal's Professor René Doyon, will study the universe from a record-breaking distance. These Canadian-made instruments will analyze stars and galaxies dating back to the Big Bang and search for life-supporting planetary systems.
Astronomers detected a rotating spiral galaxy in the early universe, over 3 billion years after the Big Bang, using the Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy, named BX442, is unlike other ancient galaxies with its grand design structure and massive size.
The discovery of the new moon provides additional clues for unraveling how the Pluto system formed and evolved. The team is using Hubble's powerful vision to scour the Pluto system to uncover potential hazards to NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.
Astronomers discover that small dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way contain only a few stars and share the same birth date, indicating they were shut down by reionization. The relic galaxies provide evidence for a transitional phase in the early universe.
Astronomers detected significant atmospheric variations on HD 189733b due to a stellar flare, with gas escaping at speeds over 300,000 mph. The discovery provides insights into the interaction between a star and its giant planet.
Astronomers found a rare gravitational arc behind an extremely massive galaxy cluster 10 billion light-years away, defying statistical expectations. The arc is the result of powerful gravity distorting light from a more distant galaxy, offering insight into the early universe's conditions for massive cluster growth.
Researchers use Lonestar supercomputer to create nearly 100,000 models of one galaxy, representing the range of possible ways stars can move. They find that dark matter is more spread out at the edge of the galaxy than previously thought, with a fluffier distribution but the same total amount.
The chance alignment of galaxies NGC 3314A and NGC 3314B shows a unique view of their spiral arms and dust lanes. The motion of the galaxies indicates they are not on a collision course, with NGC 3314A's warped shape likely due to an encounter with another nearby galaxy.
The Milky Way is destined for a head-on collision with the Andromeda galaxy in 4 billion years. Computer simulations show that stars will be thrown into different orbits around the new galactic center, and our solar system may be tossed farther from the core.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will observe the moon for seven hours before, during, and after a rare Venus transit on June 5-6. The telescope will capture reflected sunlight and isolate the small fraction of light that passes through Venus' atmosphere to study its atmospheric makeup.