massive

JWST: James Webb Space Telescope has finished unfolding its massive mirror

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The space telescope has successfully completed a series of crucial steps to achieve full deployment, and will now continue to its final destination 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth Space 10 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins An artist’s impression of the full deployed James Webb Space Telescope NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez The James Webb Space … Read more

For The First Time, We’ve Seen a Red Giant Star Transition Into a Supernova

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We’re seeing many spectacular sights out in space as our telescopes become more powerful, but there’s a new contender for the most exciting one yet: According to researchers, we’ve observed a red supergiant star exploding into a supernova for the first time.   Supernova (SN) 2020tlf, to give it its technical name, was watched for … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope has unfolded 1st wing of massive golden mirror

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The iconic golden mirror of NASA’s massive new observatory is taking shape. The James Webb Space Telescope unfolded the panel that carries the three leftmost segments of its hexagonal gold-coated primary mirror on Friday (Jan. 7). Nearly two weeks after the observatory’s launch, the successful maneuver brings the telescope close to its final form. “Webb’s … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope unfurls massive sunshield in major deployment milestone

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One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s most nail-biting deployment steps is safely in the books. The $10 billion observatory unfurled its huge sunshield on Friday (Dec. 31), carefully unfolding the five-layer structure by sequentially deploying two booms. “Shine bright like a diamond. With the successful deployment of our right sunshield mid-boom, or ‘arm,’ Webb’s … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope uncovers massive sunshield in next step of risky deployment

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope removes the covers from its sunshield in this animation of the critical deployment step that occurred in space on Dec. 30, 2021. (Image credit: NASA) The James Webb Space Telescope has unwrapped its sunshield, crossing another important item off of its lengthy and risky deployment to-do list. After successfully extending … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope begins unfolding delicate, massive sunshield

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NASA’s massive new space observatory has entered its most perilous phase yet as it begins the careful process of unfurling its delicate sunshield. The James Webb Space Telescope launched on Sunday (Dec. 25) and will be a revolutionary new observatory focused on studying the universe in infrared light. But first, it has to survive a … Read more

Planets: An unexpected gas giant is orbiting a massive pair of stars

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We thought that planets couldn’t form around stars with more than three times the mass of the sun, but planet b Cen (AB)b challenges the idea Space 8 December 2021 By Chen Ly The twin stars of the most massive planet-hosting star system to date, b Centauri, and its giant planet b Cen (AB)b ESO/Janson … Read more