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Deep within the Andromeda constellation, some 320 million light-years away, two galaxies are consumed by a gravitationally bound dance, and the Hubble Space Telescope has just photographed the action in extraordinary three-dimensional detail. The two dancers are the smaller polar-ring galaxy IC 1559 (top) and the larger spiral galaxy NGC 169 (bottom). Collectively, they are … Read more
You’ve probably heard of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, but do you know what it’s actually going to do? Webb is the most powerful telescope ever built, and its assorted instruments will give us a clearer view of more stars than we’ve ever seen. The observatory, which is currently undergoing calibration to prepare for the … Read more
Some of the James Webb Space Telescope‘s first science investigations will probe the role that bright objects called quasars played in early galaxy evolution. Quasars are distant objects powered by black holes typically a billion times as massive as our sun. They emit energies that can climb to trillions of electron volts, exceeding the total … Read more
Pluto may no longer be a planet, but the dwarf planet and its icy neighbors in the Kuiper Belt are about to enter the spotlight. One of the James Webb Space Telescope‘s first missions this year will be a program to study Pluto and some of the thousands of other celestial objects in the Kuiper … Read more
As we all feel the squeeze of rising living costs and as budgets get ever tighter it might seem like buying a telescope is out of the question. Fortunately, with a little forethought we can shop smarter and experience the wonders of the night sky for less than you might think. Here are five tips … Read more
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is preparing for a deep-space chemistry experiment. During the observatory’s commissioning and ongoing mirror alignment, Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) team successfully finished initial check-out and characterization of three mechanisms that are key for the instrument to do its work. “The NIRSpec team will continue their commissioning efforts. The whole team … Read more
A German-built space telescope making the largest ever map of black holes in the universe has been switched off after Germany halted all science cooperation with Russia to protest that country’s invasion of Ukraine. The black hole-hunting telescope, called eROSITA, launched in 2019 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Russian-built Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite. The … Read more
The sharp mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope will finally be able to probe into the atmospheres of sub-Neptunes, which are mysterious planets that aren’t found anywhere near Earth. The observatory is in the middle of a commissioning period that will last until about June. But when it is ready, the observatory will seek out sub-Neptunes … Read more
A new Hubble image shows two deceivingly close galaxies located in the constellation Virgo. The Hubble Space Telescope captured the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4496A and the spiral galaxy NGC 4496B. The two galaxies only appear to overlap due to a chance alignment — in reality, they are actually located incredibly far apart. NGC 4496A … Read more
A new telescope taking on the task of staring at the Sun has delivered incredible new images of solar activity. The US National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope commenced science operations for the first time on Wednesday 23 February 2022. It’s the largest solar telescope in the world, and its high-resolution observations of … Read more