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This artist’s concept depicts the planet GJ 1214 b, a “mini-Neptune” with what is likely a steamy, hazy atmosphere. A new study based on observations by NASA’s Webb telescope provides insight into this type of planet, the most common in the galaxy.

James Webb telescope gets a view of the ‘white whale’ of exoplanet research

Located 50 light-years away, the planet GJ 1214 b has defied 15 years of attempted observations due to its hazy nature.
Space News
This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star. The inner belts – which had never been seen before – were revealed by Webb for the first time.

James Webb gets a stunning view of a far-off planetary system

As well peering back at the earliest galaxies in the universe, the James Webb Space Telescope is also letting astronomers learn more about how planets form.
Space News
a slice of 3D printed cheesecake

3D printed cheesecake? Inside the culinary quest to make a Star Trek food replicator

Scientists at Columbia University are trying to crack the code for 3D-printed food, and their first success was a 3D-printed cheesecake
News
Uranus is surrounded by its four major rings and 10 of its 27 known moons in this color-added view that uses data taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1998. A study featuring new modeling shows that four of Uranus’ large moons likely contain internal oceans.

4 of Uranus’s icy moons could have liquid water oceans

Using data from the Voyager mission, researchers found that four of Uranus's moons likely have liquid water oceans beneath icy crusts.
Space News
First image of the full Earth disc from the Meteosat Third Generation Imager. The first image from Meteosat Third Generation – Imager 1 (MTG-I1) reveals a level of detail about the weather over Europe and Africa not previously possible from 36 000 km above Earth. The higher-resolution images provided by the instruments on board give weather forecasters more information about the clouds cloaking much of Europe and visible in the equatorial region of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Sand and sediment in the waters off Italy are also visible, as well as dust or smog being carried from south Asia. This degree of detail is not possible from the instruments on the Meteosat Second Generation satellites. The image was captured at 11:50 UTC on 18 March 2023 by the Flexible Combined Imager on MTG-I1.

See the first image of Earth from a new weather-monitoring satellite

A recently launched weather satellite has sent back its first image of Earth, showing our planet in gorgeous detail.
Space News
This illustration is based on Hubble Space Telescope images of gas and dust discs encircling the young star TW Hydrae. We have an oblique view of three concentric rings of dust and gas. At the centre is the bright white glow of the central star. The reddish-coloured rings are inclined to each other and are therefore casting dark shadows across the outermost ring.

Hubble observes weird star system with three off-kilter, planet-forming disks

There's something odd about the TW Hydrae system, and it took astronomers some time to figure it out.
Space News
Illustration of the black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way.

See the terrifying scale of a supermassive black hole in NASA visualization

NASA is celebrating black hole week by sharing a frankly disturbing visualization to help you picture just how large a supermassive black hole is.
Space News
Astronomers using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, have observed the first compelling evidence of a dying Sun-like star engulfing an exoplanet. The “smoking gun” of this event was seen in a long and low-energy outburst from the star — the telltale signature of a planet skimming along a star’s surface. This never-before-seen process may herald the ultimate fate of Earth when our own Sun nears the end of its life in about five billion years.

Astronomers watch a preview of the destruction of the Earth

Astronomers recently caught the grisly sight of an exoplanet being devoured by its star, in a preview of what will eventually happen to the Earth.
Space News
This artist concept represents the rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b, which orbits a red dwarf star that is only 26 light-years away in the constellation Virgo. By observing GJ 486 b transit in front of its star, astronomers sought signs of an atmosphere. They detected hints of water vapor. However, they caution that while this might be a sign of a planetary atmosphere, the water could be on the star itself – specifically, in cool starspots – and not from the planet at all.

James Webb detects water vapor in rocky planet’s atmosphere — maybe

Water vapor was spotted near the rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b. That could indicate the presence of water in its atmosphere, or it could also be from another source.
Space News
The Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars, in an image taken by the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity recently made its 50th flight.

Ingenuity and Perseverance snap photos of each other on Mars

Everyone's favorite Mars double act, the Ingenuity helicopter and the Perseverance rover, have been traveling together recently -- and there's photo evidence.
Space News
The European Space Agency's JUICE spacecraft.

JUICE spacecraft might have to shake loose its struck antenna

The European Space Agency (ESA)'s JUICE spacecraft has run into a problem following its launch, as one of its antennae has not yet been deployed.
Space News
Scientists observing the compact radio core of M87 have discovered new details about the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. In this artist’s conception, the black hole’s massive jet is seen rising up from the centre of the black hole. The observations on which this illustration is based represent the first time that the jet and the black hole shadow have been imaged together, giving scientists new insights into how black holes can launch these powerful jets.

Supermassive black hole spews out jet of matter in first-of-its-kind image

For the first time, astronomers have imaged a supermassive black hole expelling an enormous jet of matter at tremendous speed.
Space News
exoplanet discovered machine learning image png

Previously unknown exoplanet discovered using machine learning

Researchers used a machine learning model to search for exoplanets with protoplanetary disks, and found one that had previously been missed.
Space News
This artist’s concept shows a cutaway of Mars, along with the paths of seismic waves from two separate quakes in 2021. Detected by NASA’s InSight mission, these seismic waves were the first ever identified to enter another planet’s core.

NASA’s InSight lander looks into Mars to study the planet’s core

NASA's Mars InSight may have come to the end of its mission last year, but data from the lander is still being used to contribute to science.
Space News
Rubin Observatory network technician Guido Maulen installs fiber optic cables on the Top End Assembly of the telescope mount.

Inside the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, home of the world’s largest digital camera

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory houses the world's largest digital camera. Here's how it'll help astronomers explore the cosmos
Space Features
Astronomers are celebrating the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s 33rd launch anniversary with an ethereal photo of a nearby star-forming region, NGC 1333. The nebula is in the Perseus molecular cloud, and is located approximately 960 light-years away.

Hubble celebrates its 33rd birthday with stunning nebula image

Nebula NGC 1333 is a busy stellar nursery, with new stars forming among the cloud of dust and gas located 960 light-years away.
Space News
spacex starship launch explosion

SpaceX Starship rocket launches in first test flight, but explodes in midair

SpaceX has launched its integrated Starship for the first time, with the spacecraft leaving the launch pad in a test flight. But not everything went to plan.
Space News
Shining like a brilliant beacon amidst a sea of galaxies, Arp 220 lights up the night sky in this view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Actually two spiral galaxies in the process of merging, Arp 220 glows brightest in infrared light, making it an ideal target for Webb. It is an ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) with a luminosity of more than a trillion suns. In comparison, our Milky Way galaxy has a much more modest luminosity of about ten billion suns.

James Webb captures a stunning image of two galaxies merging

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a gorgeous image of a dramatic cosmic event: two galaxies colliding.
Space News
Shortly after launch on 14 April, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, captured this stunning view of Earth. The coastline around the Gulf of Aden can be made out to the right of centre, with patchy clouds above land and sea.

JUICE mission to Jupiter sends back first images of Earth from space

The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft has sent back its first images from space -- and they are some stunning views of the Earth.
Space News
SpaceX's Starship rocket on the pad in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX scrubs launch of world’s most powerful rocket due to valve issue

The planned first launch of the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket was called off due to a frozen valve, and the event turned into a wet dress rehearsal instead.
Space News
ESA’s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet’s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

See highlights of the launch of the European JUICE spacecraft

See video of an Ariane 5 rocket launching the European Space agency's JUICE mission to Jupiter's icy moons from this morning.
Space News
A team of researchers, including an astronomer with NSF’s NOIRLab, has developed a new machine-learning technique to enhance the fidelity and sharpness of radio interferometry images. To demonstrate the power of their new approach, which is called PRIMO, the team created a new, high-fidelity version of the iconic Event Horizon Telescope's image of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87, a giant elliptical galaxy located 55 million light-years from Earth. The image of the M87 supermassive black hole originally published by the EHT collaboration in 2019 (left); and a new image generated by the PRIMO algorithm using the same data set (right).

Machine learning used to sharpen the first image of a black hole

A machine learning technique called PRIMO has sharpened the famous first-ever image of a black hole from 2019.
Space News
An Ariane 5 rocket containing the Juice spacecraft on the launchpad at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on Thursday April 13 2023.

Launch of Europe’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer delayed by 24 hours

The launch of the European Space Agency's JUICE mission to the icy moons of Jupiter has been delayed by 24 hours due to weather conditions.
Space News
Artist's impression of the JUICE spacecraft exploring Jupiter and its giant moon Ganymede.

What the JUICE spacecraft is hoping to learn about Jupiter’s icy moons

Tomorrow sees the launch of the JUICE spacecraft, which will travel to the Jupiter system to investigate whether the moons there could be potentially habitable.
Space News
This image of the Crab Nebula combines data from NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in magenta and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in dark purple.

NASA’s IXPE mission gets an X-ray view of the famous Crab Nebula

A NASA X-ray instrument has provided a new view of one of astronomy's most beautiful objects, the Crab Nebula.
News
Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years. This new image uses data from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to reveal Cas A in a new light.

James Webb captures stunning image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A

A stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a famous supernova remnant called Cassiopeia A, or Cas A.
Space News
Sally Ride NASA

How NASA’s astronaut class of 1978 changed the face of space exploration

NASA's 1978 astronaut class was a turning point for the agency, and it set the stage for the more diverse and inclusive space program we have today
Space Features
This is an artist's impression of a runaway supermassive black hole that was ejected from its host galaxy as a result of a tussle between it and two other black holes. As the black hole plows through intergalactic space it compresses tenuous gas in front to it. This precipitates the birth of hot blue stars. This illustration is based on Hubble Space Telescope observations of a 200,000-light-year-long contrail of stars behind an escaping black hole.

Unique black hole is trailed by 200,000 light-year-long tail of stars

A strange, lonely supermassive black hole is trailed by a tail of stars that's twice as long as the Milky Way is wide.
Space News
This zoomed-in image of Uranus, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on 6 February 2023, reveals stunning views of the planet’s rings. The planet displays a blue hue in this representative-colour image, made by combining data from two filters (F140M, F300M) at 1.4 and 3.0 microns, shown here as blue and orange, respectively.

James Webb captures the rarely-seen rings around Uranus

Following up on its image of Neptune released last year, astronomers using Webb have just released a brand-new image of Uranus as you've never seen it before.
Space News
This artist's concept shows the brilliant glare of two quasars residing in the cores of two galaxies that are in the chaotic process of merging. The gravitational tug-of-war between the two galaxies ignites a firestorm of star birth.

Hubble spots an ancient pair of supermassive black holes about to merge

Recently, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted two quasars burning brightly in the night sky -- and they're on a collision course.
Space News
This is a composite image showing the Saturn Lyman-alpha bulge, an emission from hydrogen which is a persistent and unexpected excess detected by three distinct NASA missions, namely Voyager 1, Cassini, and the Hubble Space Telescope between 1980 and 2017.

Saturn’s rings are raining down particles on its atmosphere

New research using the Hubble Space Telescope shows that Saturn's icy rings actually heat up its upper atmosphere.
Space News
The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission (left to right): NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reid Wiseman (seated), Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Here are the 4 astronauts who will travel to the moon for Artemis II

This crew of four will be the first people to leave low-Earth orbit in over 50 years.
Space News
This image shows the rocky outcrop the Perseverance science team calls Berea after the NASA Mars rover extracted a rock core and abraded a circular patch. The image was taken by the rover's Mastcam-Z instrument on March 30, 2023.

Perseverance rover collects its first sample from Jezero delta

The sample is rich in carbonate, a chemical compound that is excellent at preserving signs of life.
Space News
Perseverance looks towards the Delta on Sol 419, capturing this image with its Right Navigation Camera.

Perseverance and Ingenuity play a game of tag across Mars

The Perseverance rover is trundling across Mars's Jezero Crater, on its way to explore the site of an ancient river delta -- and it's got a friend with it.
Space News
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