Articles tagged with Space Telescopes
Astronomers using Hubble Space Telescope have solved the 40-year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream. Most of the gas was stripped from the Small Magellanic Cloud about 2 billion years ago, and a second region originated from the Large Magellanic Cloud.
A team of researchers has developed a new method to measure the internal properties of stars, enabling more accurate assessments of their orbiting planets. By using asteroseismology, they were able to determine the mass and rotation rate of a pulsating star, confirming the existence of an exoplanet in its orbit.
The article highlights NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's incredible view of Comet ISON against a vast backdrop of galaxies and stars. The comet appears to be swimming through the cosmos despite its immense distance from Earth, showcasing the telescope's unparalleled resolution.
Researchers used Hubble to analyze the motion of over 30,000 stars in 47 Tucanae, linking their orbital motion to age for the first time. The study found two distinct populations of stars, with ages differing by less than 100 million years.
The newly discovered moon, S/2004 N 1, is estimated to be 12 miles across and is the smallest known moon orbiting Neptune. It was found using archival images taken by Hubble from 2004 to 2009 and noticed a white dot between the orbits of Neptunian moons Larissa and Proteus.
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed the presence of a true blue planet, HD 189733b, by detecting changes in light color as it passes behind its star. The observations indicate a deep blue color due to a hazy atmosphere with high clouds containing silicate particles.
A team of researchers studied an early galaxy using the ESO Very Large Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope, determining its size, mass, element content, and star formation rate. The study found that the galaxy contained a high proportion of heavier elements, similar to those in the centre and outer parts of the galaxy.
Comet ISON is approaching Earth, expected to be visible to the naked eye in November. The comet's icy nucleus and bright star-like coma create a tail of gas and dust streaming behind it.
Researchers led by CU-Boulder's John Stocke discovered normal spiral galaxies are surrounded by massive gas halos extending up to 1 million light-years in diameter, much larger than previously estimated. These findings have significant consequences for galaxy evolution and provide new insights into the formation process of stars.
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.
The colliding galaxy duo Arp 142 features a star-forming spiral galaxy NGC 2936 with a compressed gas core triggering new star formation. The elliptical companion NGC 2937 is warped by the encounter, but shows little effect from gravitational pull.
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.
Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center performed delicate 'eye surgery' to implant the MIRI instrument, weighing 181 pounds, into the ISIM module. The precise operation requires coordination among multiple team members to avoid disturbing the critical science instruments.
The 2012-2013 first place team in the NASA RealWorld-InWorld Engineering Design Challenge consists of five high school juniors and seniors who developed innovative engineering designs for the James Webb Space Telescope. The winning team will present their design concept to Dr. John Mather at a VIP event at NASA Goddard.
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.
The Proba-3 mission aims to validate precision formation flight technology, enabling the creation of enormous space telescopes. Two satellites weighing approximately 340 kg and 200 kg will travel jointly attached together until they separate in a highly-eccentric orbit.
The premier issue of New Space journal marks a significant milestone in the field of commercial space ventures. The inaugural issue features premium content from leading experts, including editorials, roundtable discussions, and peer-reviewed original articles.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Astronomers have uncovered a mysterious infant star with strobe-like flashes, revealing insights into the early stages of star formation. The flashes are thought to be caused by periodic interactions between two newly formed stars in a binary system.
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.
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...
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 has mapped enormous outflows of charged particles from the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy, stretching over 50,000 light-years. The phenomenon is driven by many generations of stars forming and exploding in the Galactic Centre over the last hundred million years.
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.
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.
Researchers are exploring an emerging processing technology developed by Analog Devices Lyric Labs that could revolutionize onboard data processing in space. The technology, which represents probabilities rather than binary ones and zeros, enables parallel calculations, reducing power consumption and increasing efficiency.
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.
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 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.
Researchers studied 544 blue galaxies and found they gradually transformed into orderly disk-shaped systems, with increasing rotation speeds and organization. The study's findings contradict previous studies that examined only well-behaved galaxies.
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.
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 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 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.
New study finds that most massive black-hole growth in the early universe was fueled by small, long-term events rather than dramatic short-term major mergers. Quasars thrive in normal-looking spiral galaxies, triggered by black holes snacking on gas or small satellite galaxies.
The James Webb Space Telescope has received its first mid-infrared instrument, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), allowing scientists to study cold and distant objects in greater detail. MIRI's capabilities will help distinguish the oldest galaxies from more evolved objects, enabling researchers to understand the birthplaces of stars.
Fermi detects the highest-energy gamma rays ever associated with a solar flare, surpassing visible light by two billion times. The discovery showcases Fermi's capabilities as a solar observatory, providing insights into solar outbursts and charged particles acceleration.
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.
The Mid InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) has been declared ready for delivery to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. This instrument will allow astronomers to explore the formation of planets around distant stars and could pave the way for investigations into other planetary systems.
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.
The center section of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been completed, marking a significant milestone in the telescope's hardware development. The backplane will support the telescope's mirrors, instruments, and thermal control systems during its mission.
New stitching technique improves measurement of large aspheres in optics industry. Wavefront sensing technology enhances eye health diagnosis and treatment in medical industry.
The new Hubble image reveals millions of young stars in the 30 Doradus star-forming complex, with some stars weighing over 100 times the mass of our sun. The nebula is home to the fastest rotating and highest velocity stars ever observed.
Several critical NASA components are being tested to ensure the success of the James Webb Space Telescope. The OSIM and BIA instruments will simulate the telescope's science cameras and spectrographs, while also verifying their functionality in cryogenic temperatures. This testing program is essential for the mission's success.
MIRI, the Mid-Infrared Instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope, offers unparalleled capabilities for studying distant galaxies, star formation, and planetary systems. Its spectrometer and camera enable scientists to analyze an object's physical properties and image its shape and structure.
Bahram Mobasher has received a two-year grant from NASA to compile imaging observations of galaxy surveys taken by the Hubble Space Telescope since 2002. The project aims to provide multi-wavelength data for measuring physical properties of galaxies and studying their formation and evolution.
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found galaxies containing quasars that act as gravitational lenses, distorting images of aligned galaxies. Quasars are powered by supermassive black holes and help estimate the mass of host galaxies.
Astronomers have obtained a unique close-up look at the brightest gravitationally magnified galaxy yet discovered using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The image revealed regions of star formation glowing like bright points of light, which are much brighter than any star-formation region in our own galaxy.
Astronomers have discovered a young cluster of blue stars surrounding an intermediate-mass black hole in a cannibal galaxy. The star cluster is thought to be less than 200 million years old and may be the remnant of a dwarf galaxy that was swallowed by the larger galaxy.
Researchers found a cluster of young, blue stars encircling the first intermediate-mass black hole ever discovered in a dwarf galaxy. The presence of this star cluster suggests that the black hole was once at the core of the now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy.
Astronomers use gravitational lensing to study a vigorously forming galaxy, revealing regions of intense star formation. The team aims to analyze these star-forming regions through spectroscopy to understand their formation mechanisms.