Tag: Astronomy
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Data from ESA’s Gaia mission reveals our Sun’s future and past
On June 13, the third major data release from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia mission revealed details about the past and future of our solar system’s star, the Sun, by using data collected by Gaia on stars of similar mass and composition to our Sun. Gaia is a star mapping mission and collects massive…
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As Webb begins observing exoplanets, scientists use Spitzer data & brown dwarfs to reveal how silicate clouds form
In a new study from a group of researchers in Canada, data from NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope was used to determine the conditions under which silicate clouds form on distant exoplanets outside of our solar system — giving scientists insight into what’s inside the atmospheres of exoplanets similar in size, temperature, and composition to…
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NASA, ESA, CSA release historic first images from the James Webb Space Telescope
NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have released the first set of full-color images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope — the world’s newest, most powerful, and largest space telescope. A total of five images were released, with the first image being unveiled by United States President Joe…
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Feast your eyes on the first course of a celestial smorgasbord from NASA’s Webb Space Telescope
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provided this view of a galactic grouping known as Stephan’s Quintet. Click on the image for a larger version. (NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI) A day after NASA showed how far the James Webb Space Telescope could dive into the cosmic frontier, scientists released additional pictures demonstrating the…
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Biden unveils first image from Webb Space Telescope, expanding the space frontier
The first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope reveals faraway galaxies. Click on the image for a larger view. (NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI) President Joe Biden got in on today’s celebration of the first full-color image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a $10 billion observatory that’s been decades in…
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Euclid moving into final phase of testing following integration milestone
The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Euclid space telescope has moved closer to launch after prime contractor Thales Alenia Space mated the spacecraft’s service module and payload module. Euclid will aim to study the “dark universe” through visible-light and near-infrared astronomy. The mission had been slated to launch no earlier than the first quarter of 2023,…
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Roman Space Telescope to search for other Earths by surveying space dust
With the James Webb Space Telescope continuing its commissioning phase, NASA is already looking ahead to its next major space observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Currently scheduled to launch in 2027, Roman will observe the universe to answer crucial questions needed for the complete understanding of our universe, especially in the areas of…
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Astronomers set up a new center to address issues raised by SpaceX and Amazon satellite networks
This time-lapse image of Venus and the Pleiades shows the tracks of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. (Torsten Hansen / IAU OAE / Creative Commons Attribution) The International Astronomical Union is heading up the creation of a new center to deal with the complications created by broadband satellite constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. The…
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Webb Telescope fires thrusters to settle in at destination, a million miles from Earth
An artist’s conception shows the James Webb Space Telescope operating at L2, with the sun, Earth and moon behind its sunshield. (NASA Illustration) The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope successfully fired its thrusters today to put it in position at the destination where it’s expected to probe the mysteries of the universe for years…
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James Webb Space Telescope fully deploys, Northrop Grumman marks sunshield success
At 18:17 UTC on January 8, 2022, the joint NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) successfully deployed the starboard wing of its massive 6.5-meter mirror — marking the end of the observatory’s intense and critical deployment sequence. The feat capped an impressive series of engineering accomplishments,…