Articles tagged with Space Telescopes
Astronomers using Hubble Ultra Deep Field have discovered the most distant galaxies in the universe, dating back 13 billion years. The findings provide key insights into the formation of galaxies and the early universe.
Radio astronomers discovered 17 millisecond pulsars using Fermi's high-energy sources, which could be used to detect gravitational waves. These pulsars are nature's most precise clocks, with long-term stability that rivals human-made atomic clocks.
The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed thousands of newly discovered galaxies in their early stages of formation, providing a detailed view of the universe up to 12 billion years ago. The images are helping astronomers detect distant galaxies that would have been impossible to discover with current ground-based telescopes.
Astronomers found two types of blue stragglers that defy aging: those rejuvenated by cosmic collisions and those formed by vampirism. The latter is thought to be caused by a smaller star siphoning hydrogen from its companion, while the former occurs in nearly head-on collisions where stars merge, mixing their nuclear fuel.
The Planck space telescope has returned its first images of the sky, mapping tiny differences in microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang. This improved data will allow scientists to better understand the structure of the universe when it was about 400,000 years old and test theories about cosmic inflation.
The James Webb Space Telescope's Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) has arrived at NASA Goddard for testing, featuring four scientific instruments and a critical cryogenic structure. The ISIM will undergo rigorous qualification testing to ensure its ability to survive space and extreme cold.
The TDRS project has received approval to proceed with the implementation phase of its mission, enabling NASA to build more spacecraft needed to support missions. The next milestone is a critical design review scheduled for January 2010, which will examine detailed aspects of the TDRS spacecraft and system.
Engineers at NASA Goddard and Northrop Grumman are simulating the handling of the telescope's mirror segments, which will be assembled into the Primary Mirror Assembly. The mock-up has already been beneficial in preparing for integration and test operations.
The SPIRE instrument package has successfully made its first observations, targeting two galaxies near the Milky Way. The telescope's high-resolution images will aid in studying the birth and development of galaxies, shedding light on star formation processes.
A new class of pulsars detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals the existence of a large population of radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsars. The study identifies 16 pulsars using computational techniques developed to analyze data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope.
Freedman, Kennicutt, and Mould's work resolves decades-long debate on the Hubble constant, revealing the universe is 14 billion years old. This finding enables scientists to estimate the density of the universe and understand its fate.
The James Webb Space Telescope, a massive infrared space telescope, will unfold in space once it achieves orbit. The telescope, roughly 65 feet from end to end, has a sunshield the size of a tennis court and an 18-segment mirror that looks like a honeycomb.
NASA's Hubble telescope will be upgraded with a new, high-performance Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) technology developed for the James Webb Space Telescope. The ASIC will enable improved repair and upgrade capabilities for Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument.
The CU-Boulder instrument, part of NASA's Hubble Servicing mission, will probe the universe's evolution from its perch on the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists aim to reconstruct the physical conditions and evolution of the early universe by gathering information from ultraviolet light.
The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph will explore the 'cosmic web', a rarefied network of hot gas lanes connecting galaxies, and map the structure of the universe. Astronomers hope to detail the evolution of the large-scale structure and understand how galaxies formed.
The new value of the Hubble constant is 74.2 kilometers per second per megaparsec, derived from observations of Cepheid variables in seven galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope. This refined measurement provides a more precise understanding of dark energy's nature and its role in accelerating the universe's expansion.
The Fermi telescope has detected a class of pulsars, probed gamma-ray bursts and watched flaring jets in galaxies billions of light-years away. The data may imply the presence of a nearby object beaming cosmic rays our way.
The James Webb Space Telescope's first flight mirror segment has successfully completed its series of cryogenic temperature tests, a crucial step towards the telescope's launch in 2013. The mirrors will undergo further polishing and verification to achieve the required 20 nanometer accuracy.
A Rochester Institute of Technology scientist improved Hubble's Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer calibration to enable high-precision polarimetry. This technique helps scientists study active galactic nuclei and proto-planets around young stars.
The James Webb Space Telescope's mirrors are made of beryllium, a light metal that withstands extreme temperatures and is highly reflective. The 18 hexagonal mirror segments will allow the telescope to see galaxies from 13 billion light-years away.
The new map combines nearly three months of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, offering an unparalleled look at the high-energy cosmos. The image reveals flares from supermassive black holes in distant galaxies and pulsars, as well as a globular cluster in our own Milky Way galaxy.
Lee Feinberg, Optical Telescope Element Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope, has been elected as a fellow of SPIE for his significant contributions to large space optics and optical technology. He will receive his award at the SPIE Optics and Photonics meeting in San Diego this August.
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected the most extreme gamma-ray burst yet, emitting energies 3,000 to 5 billion times that of visible light. The burst, GRB 080916C, occurred at a distance of 12.2 billion light-years away and is believed to be powered by an exotic massive star running out of nuclear fuel.
The James Webb Space Telescope's Backplane, a critical component supporting the 21-foot primary mirror, is being assembled with unprecedented thermal stability performance. This structure will maintain motionlessness to enable precise focusing of telescope optics and instruments, crucial for discovering the first stars and galaxies.
Scientists have observed a spectacular heating of the planet HD8606b, where global warming reached 1,500 degrees Kelvin in just six hours. The planet's extremely eccentric orbit and proximity to its star led to this extreme temperature increase, providing valuable insights into its atmospheric properties.
The Hubble Space Telescope is set to undergo its fifth and final service mission, which will provide the telescope with a future as bright as its past despite being nearly 18 years into troubled beginnings. The repairs will upgrade instruments, replace gyroscopes and heat shields, and add new capabilities for deeper observations.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has directly observed a planet circling another star, Fomalhaut b. The exoplanet orbits Fomalhaut at a distance of 10.7 billion miles, 10 times that of Saturn from the sun.
The NASA-designed Sunshield is made of a super-tough polymer-based film that can block the sun's energy while maintaining structural integrity. The telescope needs to be extremely cold to observe distant galaxies and stars in infrared light, and the Sunshield plays a crucial role in achieving this.
Astronomers have discovered a pulsar that blinks only in gamma-rays, providing new insights into stellar evolution. The pulsar, located in the CTA 1 supernova remnant, is thought to be part of a large population of similar objects, offering researchers a unique way to study stars in our universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope model is on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany until October 28, 2008. The model showcases the telescope's size and complexity, measuring 80 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 40 feet tall.
Development models for James Webb Telescope components have successfully passed temperature and vibration tests, allowing engineers to proceed with building actual instrument parts. The Mid-Infrared Instrument, which will operate between mid-infrared wavelengths of 5-28.5 microns, must be kept icy cold due to its extreme sensitivity to...
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has revealed the entire gamma-ray sky, discovering pulsars in our galaxy and powerful processes near supermassive black holes. The telescope's first all-sky image shows glowing gas, blinking pulsars, and a flaring galaxy billions of light-years away.
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has revealed its first all-sky map in gamma rays, showcasing the glowing gas of the Milky Way and pulsars in unprecedented detail. The telescope's high-energy capabilities will enable discoveries of new pulsars and reveal powerful processes near super-massive black holes.
GLAST successfully launched on June 11 and is now safely in orbit approximately 350 miles above the Earth's surface. Engineers are conducting daily checks to ensure all systems function correctly before turning on its instruments.
NASA has set a new target launch date for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) on June 7, following additional time needed to resolve engineering concerns. The launch window remains unchanged, and details of the prelaunch news conference are planned.
Astronomers find nine young, compact galaxies with masses of 200 billion times the Sun's, each only 5,000 light-years across. These ultra-dense galaxies formed 11 billion years ago and are thought to be building blocks for today's largest galaxies.
Researchers have created an online map that shows locations experiencing problems with internet connectivity, providing a snapshot of the internet's weak points. The Hubble tool monitors about 90% of the internet and can help professional network operators identify and fix issues quickly.
The James Webb Space Telescope sunshield, crucial to the mission's success, has completed its preliminary design review. The five-layer sunshield will deploy in space to shade the telescope optics and enable it to reach proper operating temperature.
The GLAST spacecraft is preparing for its launch on May 16 at the Kennedy Space Center. It will explore extreme environments in the universe, studying supermassive black hole systems, pulsars, and cosmic rays. The mission aims to answer questions about gamma-ray bursts and other cosmic phenomena.
The James Webb Space Telescope employs the miniaturized SIDECAR to convert analog signals into digital data, reducing noise and improving transmission robustness. This technology enables efficient signal processing and minimizes system noise.
The GLAST observatory will explore extreme environments and search for new laws of physics, with a scheduled May 16 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket's first stage has arrived at the space station, joining the second stage and solid rocket motors.
The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a double Einstein ring, caused by the bending of light from two distant galaxies behind a massive foreground galaxy. The discovery offers insights into dark matter and the nature of distant galaxies.
Galaxies in crowded environments, like superclusters, experience violent lives due to high-speed collisions and stripping away of gas. The Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys mapped dark matter scaffolding, revealing dense clumps that match the location of old galaxies.
The Hubble servicing mission, scheduled for August 2008, aims to equip the telescope with new instruments, including the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Wide Field Camera 3. These upgrades will enhance Hubble's capabilities to explore the universe, studying dark matter, dark energy, and planetary atmospheres.
Astronomers at Rutgers and Penn State universities discovered galaxies in the distant universe that are ancestors of spiral galaxies like our Milky Way. The newly discovered galaxies are small and have fewer stars, but were fertile breeding grounds for new stars that ionized hydrogen atoms and emitted Lyman alpha light.
The GLAST satellite, a gamma-ray telescope, has arrived at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington for testing before its launch later in 2008. The mission will study extreme environments in the universe, identifying unknown sources of gamma rays.
The Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) will undergo thermal and electromagnetic calibration, scientific and environmental testing at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. The successful completion of the first tests just before Christmas will enable scientists to understand the best ways of making discoveries with the instrument.
The James Webb Space Telescope has successfully completed its preliminary design review, verifying the integrated performance of its Optical Telescope Element. The telescope, set to be the premier space observatory of the next decade, will study various phases in the universe's history.
Astronomers at the University of Illinois have discovered a stellar cradle where planets and moons are believed to form. Located 800 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus, the object is an enormous flow of shocked molecular hydrogen gas erupting from a young protostar's magnetic poles.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have found two young stars with gaps in their protoplanetary disks, suggesting infant planets cleared debris. The study provides new insights into solar system formation and history.
A customized telemetry system has been successfully tested by Northrop Grumman Corporation, enabling the James Webb Space Telescope to communicate with Earth. The system, developed in collaboration with Raytheon Corporation, will be used for sending commands and collecting telemetry data.
The James Webb Space Telescope will utilize the advanced SpaceWire technology to improve communication between its components, allowing for higher data collection rates and enhanced scientific discovery. This enables the telescope to study more of the universe with its 66 million detector pixels.
After eight years of operations, NASA's FUSE space telescope will be shut down on October 18, leaving behind a legacy of over 1,200 published papers and groundbreaking science discoveries, including insights into molecular hydrogen in Mars' atmosphere and a first-ever observation of molecular nitrogen outside our solar system.
Scientists have discovered a huge belt of warm dust swirling around the distant star, which is just slightly more massive than our sun. The conditions are suitable for forming rocky planets, and the material mix is reminiscent of lava flows on Earth.
The NASA-NOAO partnership will facilitate major discoveries by enabling simultaneous observations of objects in vastly different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This agreement streamlines the approval process, allowing researchers to submit one peer-review proposal for funding from GLAST and observing time on NOAO telescopes.
Scientists have developed algorithms to enable the 19 individual mirrors of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to function as one telescope, allowing for sharper images and detection of distant galaxies. The 'Wavefront Sensing and Controls' system was tested successfully on a scale model and through computer simulations.
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed agreements to cooperate on the James Webb Space Telescope and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission. The JWST will investigate galaxy, star, and planetary system origins, operating in space at L2 with a 21.3-foot primary mirror.
The James Webb Space Telescope model is on display in Dublin, Ireland, providing a glimpse into the successor to the Hubble Telescope. The model was built by Northrop Grumman and weighs over 12,000 lbs., featuring a sunshield that 'breathes' thanks to a special material imported from France.
The Canadian Space Agency has awarded a $39 million contract to COM DEV International Ltd. to build the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and Tuneable Filter Imager (TFI) camera for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. These instruments will provide essential pointing capability and unique science capabilities, including infrared imaging and pl...
NASA is exploring the possibility of adding a lightweight grapple fixture to the James Webb Space Telescope to enable safe emergency servicing operations in space. The feasibility study aims to determine if the feature will be added to the telescope before its planned launch in 2013.