Press Releases
Showing 1 to 24 of 599.
Team Preps to Study Dark Energy via Exploding Stars With NASA’s Roman
2025.03.11
The universe is ballooning outward at an ever-faster clip under the power of an unknown force dubbed dark energy. One of the major goals for NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is to help astronomers gather clues to the mystery. One team is setting the stage now to help astronomers prepare for this exciting […]
NASA’s Webb Peers Deeper into Mysterious Flame Nebula
2025.03.10
The Flame Nebula, located about 1,400 light-years away from Earth, is a hotbed of star formation less than 1 million years old. Within the Flame Nebula, there are objects so small that their cores will never be able to fuse hydrogen like full-fledged stars—brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs, often called “failed stars,” over time become very […]
NASA Webb Wows With Incredible Detail in Actively Forming Star System
2025.03.07
High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows extraordinary new detail and structure in Lynds 483 (L483). Two actively forming stars are responsible for the shimmering ejections of gas and dust that gleam in orange, blue, and purple in this representative color image. Over tens of thousands of years, the central protostars […]
NASA’s Webb Exposes Complex Atmosphere of Starless Super-Jupiter
2025.03.03
An international team of researchers has discovered that previously observed variations in brightness of a free-floating planetary-mass object known as SIMP 0136 must be the result of a complex combination of atmospheric factors, and cannot be explained by clouds alone. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to monitor a broad spectrum of infrared light emitted […]
Webb Reveals Rapid-Fire Light Show From Milky Way’s Central Black Hole
2025.02.18
The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way appears to be having a party, complete with a disco ball-style light show. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astrophysicists has gained the longest, most detailed glimpse yet of the “void” that lurks in the middle of our galaxy.
Webb Maps Full Picture of How Phoenix Galaxy Cluster Forms Stars
2025.02.13
Discovery proves decades-old theory of galaxy feeding cycle. Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have finally solved the mystery of how a massive galaxy cluster is forming stars at such a high rate. The confirmation from Webb builds on more than a decade of studies using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, […]
NASA Successfully Joins Sunshade to Roman Observatory’s ‘Exoskeleton’
2025.02.12
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully integrated the mission’s deployable aperture cover — a visor-like sunshade that will help prevent unwanted light from entering the telescope — to the outer barrel assembly, another structure designed to shield the telescope from stray light in addition to keeping it at a stable temperature. “It’s […]
NASA Celebrates Edwin Hubble’s Discovery of a New Universe
2025.01.15
For humans, the most important star in the universe is our Sun. The second-most important star is nestled inside the Andromeda galaxy. Don’t go looking for it — the flickering star is 2.2 million light-years away, and is 1/100,000th the brightness of the faintest star visible to the human eye. Yet, a century ago, its […]
NASA’s Webb Reveals Intricate Layers of Interstellar Dust, Gas
2025.01.14
Once upon a time, the core of a massive star collapsed, creating a shockwave that blasted outward, ripping the star apart as it went. When the shockwave reached the star’s surface, it punched through, generating a brief, intense pulse of X-rays and ultraviolet light that traveled outward into the surrounding space. About 350 years later, […]
New Simulated Universe Previews Panoramas From NASA’s Roman Telescope
2025.01.14
Astronomers have released a set of more than a million simulated images showcasing the cosmos as NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will see it. This preview will help scientists explore a myriad of Roman’s science goals. “We used a supercomputer to create a synthetic universe and simulated billions of years of evolution, tracing […]
Newfound Galaxy Class May Indicate Early Black Hole Growth, Webb Finds
2025.01.14
In December 2022, less than six months after commencing science operations, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope revealed something never seen before: numerous red objects that appear small on the sky, which scientists soon called “little red dots” (LRDs). Though these dots are quite abundant, researchers are perplexed by their nature, the reason for their unique […]
Webb Watches Carbon-Rich Dust Shells Form, Expand in Star System
2025.01.13
Astronomers have long tried to track down how elements like carbon, which is essential for life, become widely distributed across the universe. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has examined one ongoing source of carbon-rich dust in our own Milky Way galaxy in greater detail: Wolf-Rayet 140, a system of two massive stars that follow […]
NASA Joins Telescope, Instruments to Roman Spacecraft
2025.01.08
Technicians have successfully integrated NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s payload – the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments – to the spacecraft that will deliver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function while there. “With this incredible milestone, Roman remains on track for launch, and we’re a big step […]
NASA’s Webb Finds Planet-Forming Disks Lived Longer in Early Universe
2024.12.16
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope just solved a conundrum by proving a controversial finding made with the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope more than 20 years ago. In 2003, Hubble provided evidence of a massive planet around a very old star, almost as old as the universe. Such stars possess only small amounts of heavier elements […]
NASA Successfully Integrates Roman Mission’s Telescope, Instruments
2024.12.12
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully integrated the mission’s telescope and two instruments onto the instrument carrier, marking the completion of the Roman payload. Now the team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will begin joining the payload to the spacecraft. “We’re in the middle of an exciting stage […]
Found: First Actively Forming Galaxy as Lightweight as Young Milky Way
2024.12.11
For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected and “weighed” a galaxy that not only existed around 600 million years after the big bang, but is also similar to what our Milky Way galaxy’s mass might have been at the same stage of development. Other galaxies Webb has detected at this time […]
Hats Off to NASA’s Webb: Sombrero Galaxy Dazzles in New Image
2024.11.25
In a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a galaxy named for its resemblance to a broad-brimmed Mexican hat appears more like an archery target. In Webb’s mid-infrared view of the Sombrero galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104), the signature, glowing core seen in visible-light images does not shine, and instead a […]
Telescope for NASA’s Roman Mission Complete, Delivered to Goddard
2024.11.14
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is one giant step closer to unlocking the mysteries of the universe. The mission has now received its final major delivery: the Optical Telescope Assembly, which includes a 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) primary mirror, nine additional mirrors, and supporting structures and electronics. The assembly was delivered Nov. 7. to the largest […]
Astronomers Find Early Fast-Feeding Black Hole Using NASA Telescopes
2024.11.13
A rapidly feeding black hole at the center of a dwarf galaxy in the early universe, shown in this artist’s concept, may hold important clues to the evolution of supermassive black holes in general. Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, a team of astronomers discovered this low-mass supermassive black hole […]
NASA’s Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega
2024.11.01
In the 1997 movie “Contact,” adapted from Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Arroway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star Vega. She emerges inside a snowstorm of debris encircling the star — but no obvious planets are visible. It looks like the filmmakers got it […]
‘Blood-Soaked’ Eyes: NASA’s Webb, Hubble Examine Galaxy Pair
2024.10.31
Stare deeply at these galaxies. They appear as if blood is pumping through the top of a flesh-free face. The long, ghastly “stare” of their searing eye-like cores shines out into the supreme cosmic darkness. It’s good fortune that looks can be deceiving. These galaxies have only grazed one another to date, with the smaller […]
NASA Successfully Integrates Coronagraph for Roman Space Telescope
2024.10.28
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully completed integration of the Roman Coronagraph Instrument onto Roman’s Instrument Carrier, a piece of infrastructure that will hold the mission’s instruments, which will be integrated onto the larger spacecraft at a later date. The Roman Coronagraph is a technology demonstration that scientists will use to take […]
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope’s ‘Exoskeleton’ Whirls Through Major Test
2024.10.08
A major component of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope just took a spin on the centrifuge at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Called the Outer Barrel Assembly, this piece of the observatory is designed to keep the telescope at a stable temperature and shield it from stray light.
NASA’s TESS Spots Record-Breaking Stellar Triplets
2024.10.02
Professional and amateur astronomers teamed up with artificial intelligence to find an unmatched stellar trio called TIC 290061484, thanks to cosmic “strobe lights” captured by NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). The system contains a set of twin stars orbiting each other every 1.8 days, and a third star that circles the pair in just […]
Showing 1 to 24 of 599.