Astrophysics Stories
Hubble Hunts Visible Light Sources of X-Rays
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the dwarf galaxy IC 776. This swirling collection of new and old stars is located in the constellation Virgo, in the Virgo galaxy cluster, 100 million light-years from Earth. Although IC 776 is…
NASA Partner Zooniverse Receives White House Open Science Award
Congrats to NASA partner Zooniverse for being named winners in the White House’s Year of Open Science Recognition Challenge! The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) designated 2023 as the year of Open Science, and invited innovators to submit stories of how…
X-ray Satellite XMM-Newton Sees ‘Space Clover’ in a New Light
Astronomers have discovered enormous circular radio features of unknown origin around some galaxies. Now, new observations of one dubbed the Cloverleaf suggest it was created by clashing groups of galaxies. Studying these structures, collectively called ORCs (odd radio circles), in…
NASA’s Hubble Pauses Science Due to Gyro Issue
Updated April 30, 2024 Editor’s note: On April 30, 2024, NASA announced it restored the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope to science operations April 29. The spacecraft is in good health and once again operating using all three of its gyros. All of Hubble’s instruments…
NASA/JAXA’s XRISM Mission Captures Unmatched Data With Just 36 Pixels
At a time when phone cameras are capable of taking snapshots with millions of pixels, an instrument on the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) satellite captures revolutionary science with just 36 of them. “That may sound impossible, but…
NASA’s Webb Maps Weather on Planet 280 Light-Years Away
An international team of researchers has successfully used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b. Precise brightness measurements over a broad spectrum of mid-infrared light, combined with 3D climate models and…
Webb Captures Top of Iconic Horsehead Nebula in Unprecedented Detail
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the sharpest infrared images to date of a zoomed-in portion of one of the most distinctive objects in our skies, the Horsehead Nebula. These observations show the top of the “horse’s mane” or…
Hubble Spots a Magnificent Barred Galaxy
The magnificent central bar of NGC 2217 (also known as AM 0619-271) shines bright in the constellation of Canis Major (The Greater Dog), in this image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Roughly 65 million light-years from Earth, this barred spiral galaxy is a…
NASA’s Planet-Hunting Satellite Temporarily on Pause
During a routine activity April 23, NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) entered safe mode, temporarily suspending science operations. The satellite scans the sky searching for planets beyond our solar system. The team is working to restore the satellite to…
Explore the Universe with the First E-Book from NASA’s Fermi
To commemorate a milestone anniversary for NASA’s Fermi spacecraft, the mission team has published an e-book called “Our High-Energy Universe: 15 Years with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.” Readers can download the e-book in PDF and EPUB formats. The e-book…