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Institute of Astronomy

 

Earliest galaxy ever seen offers glimpse of the nascent universe

Wed, 21/05/2025 - 09:54

The galaxy MoM-z14 dates back to 280 million years after the big bang, and the prevalence of such early galaxies is puzzling astronomers

Nancy Grace Roman’s 100th Birthday

Tue, 20/05/2025 - 10:28
NASA

Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy and namesake of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, briefs astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin on celestial objects in 1965 in Washington, D.C. Nancy Grace Roman passed away on December 25, 2018, in Germantown, Maryland at the age of 93. May 16, 2025, would have been her 100th birthday.

Prior to joining NASA in 1959, Dr. Roman was a well-respected and influential astronomer, publishing some of the most cited papers in the mid-20th century, one included in a list of 100 most influential papers in 100 years. At the agency, Roman worked to gain science support for space-based observatories. She established NASA’s scientific ballooning and airborne science, oversaw the start of the Great Observatory program with the first decade of Hubble Space Telescope development, and invested early in charge-coupled devices technology development used on Hubble – and now in digital cameras everywhere.  

She was also key to the decision to link the development of the Large Space Telescope (that became Hubble) and the Space Transportation System – more commonly known as the Space Shuttle. Finally, after retiring from NASA, Dr. Roman often worked with young students in underserved communities, hoping her story and mentoring could inspire them to join humanity’s quest for knowledge in a STEM field.

Learn more about Dr. Roman.

Text credit: NASA/Jackie Townsend

Image credit: NASA

Webb Finds Icy Disk

Tue, 20/05/2025 - 10:28
NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

This artist’s concept illustration, released on May 14, 2025, shows a Sun-like star encircled by a disk of dusty debris containing crystalline water ice. Astronomers long expected that frozen water was scattered in systems around stars. By using detailed data known as spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice — definitive evidence of what astronomers expected. Water ice is a vital ingredient in disks around young stars — it heavily influences the formation of giant planets and may also be delivered by small bodies like comets and asteroids to fully formed rocky planets.

Read more about what this discovery means.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Moon dust 'rarer than gold' arrives in UK from China

Tue, 20/05/2025 - 10:26

First Moon samples collected in nearly 50 years and loaned by China for the first time are now in the UK.

Already know the Big Dipper? There's more to this group of stars

Sun, 18/05/2025 - 13:57

Most of us can spot the group of stars known as the Plough or the Big Dipper. But there’s more to explore here, says Abigail Beall

Hubble Captures Cotton Candy Clouds

Sat, 17/05/2025 - 11:00
Explore Hubble

2 min read

Hubble Captures Cotton Candy Clouds This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a cloudscape in the Large Magellanic Cloud., a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a sparkling cloudscape from one of the Milky Way’s galactic neighbors, a dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Located 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the Milky Way’s many small satellite galaxies.

This view of dusty gas clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud is possible thanks to Hubble’s cameras, such as the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) that collected the observations for this image. WFC3 holds a variety of filters, and each lets through specific wavelengths, or colors, of light. This image combines observations made with five different filters, including some that capture ultraviolet and infrared light that the human eye cannot see.

The wispy gas clouds in this image resemble brightly colored cotton candy. When viewing such a vividly colored cosmic scene, it is natural to wonder whether the colors are ‘real’. After all, Hubble, with its 7.8-foot-wide (2.4 m) mirror and advanced scientific instruments, doesn’t bear resemblance to a typical camera! When image-processing specialists combine raw filtered data into a multi-colored image like this one, they assign a color to each filter. Visible-light observations typically correspond to the color that the filter allows through. Shorter wavelengths of light such as ultraviolet are usually assigned blue or purple, while longer wavelengths like infrared are typically red.

This color scheme closely represents reality while adding new information from the portions of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans cannot see. However, there are endless possible color combinations that can be employed to achieve an especially aesthetically pleasing or scientifically insightful image.


Watch “How Hubble Images are Made” on YouTube

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Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, MD

Share Details Last Updated May 15, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.


Hubble’s Nebulae


Science Behind the Discoveries


Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge

Risk of a star destroying the solar system is higher than expected

Sat, 17/05/2025 - 10:58

Stars that pass close to the solar system could pull planets out of alignment, sending them hurtling into the sun or out into space

Deimos Before Dawn

Fri, 16/05/2025 - 10:07
NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view of Deimos, the smaller of Mars’ two moons, shining in the sky at 4:27 a.m. local time on March 1, 2025, the 1,433rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. In the dark before dawn, the rover’s left navigation camera used its maximum long-exposure time of 3.28 seconds for each of 16 individual shots, all of which were combined onboard the camera into a single image that was later sent to Earth. In total, the image represents an exposure time of about 52 seconds.

The low light and long exposures add digital noise, making the image hazy. Many of the white specks seen in the sky are likely noise; some may be cosmic rays. Two of the brighter white specks are Regulus and Algieba, stars that are part of the constellation Leo.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

How dark energy findings may inspire a new generation of physics nerds

Fri, 16/05/2025 - 10:05

The discovery of the cosmic acceleration problem truly inspired me as a teenage physics nerd. Recent, related revelations about dark energy will hopefully capture the interest of today’s young science geeks, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

NASA Awards Launch Service Task Order for Aspera’s Galaxy Mission

Thu, 15/05/2025 - 10:33
Credit: NASA

NASA has selected Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California, to launch the agency’s Aspera mission, a SmallSat to study galaxy formation and evolution, providing new insights into how the universe works.

The selection is part of NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. This contract allows the agency to make fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity launch service task order awards during VADR’s five-year ordering period, with a maximum total contract value of $300 million.

Through the observation of ultraviolet light, Aspera will examine hot gas in the space between galaxies, called the intergalactic medium. The mission will study the inflow and outflow of gas from galaxies, a process thought to contribute to star formation.

Aspera is part of NASA’s Pioneers Program in the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, which funds compelling astrophysics science at a lower cost using small hardware and modest payloads. The principal investigator for Aspera is Carlos Vargas at the University of Arizona in Tucson. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the VADR contract.

To learn more about NASA’s Aspera mission and the Pioneers Program, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/42U1Wkn

-end-

Joshua Finch / Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov

Patti Bielling
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-7575
patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov

Share Details Last Updated May 14, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

Black hole fly-by modelled with landmark precision

Thu, 15/05/2025 - 10:33

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01339-x

A prediction of the gravitational waves produced by interacting black holes achieves high precision and demonstrates the link between general relativity and geometry.

Black hole flings out clumps of gas

Thu, 15/05/2025 - 10:32

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01421-4

Measurements of wind in a luminous galactic core reveal dense pockets of gas — a finding that calls for a rethink of how black holes interact with their host galaxies.

Thermal asymmetry in the Moon’s mantle inferred from monthly tidal response

Thu, 15/05/2025 - 10:32

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08949-5

Data from the NASA GRAIL spacecraft recover the lunar gravity field suggesting preservation of a predominantly thermal anomaly in the nearside mantle, which could influence the spatial distribution of deep moonquakes.

Water ice in the debris disk around HD 181327

Thu, 15/05/2025 - 10:32

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08920-4

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected water ice in the cold debris disk (analogous to the Kuiper belt) around the star HD 181327.

Emergence of Calabi–Yau manifolds in high-precision black-hole scattering

Thu, 15/05/2025 - 10:32

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08984-2

A new, highest-precision analytical result for solving the gravitational two-body problem of black hole or neutron star scattering reveals the emergence of Calabi–Yau manifolds in the solution to the radiated energy in these encounters.

One half of the moon is hotter than the other

Thu, 15/05/2025 - 10:30

Anomalies in the moon’s gravitational field suggest our satellite’s insides are warmer on one side than the other – which means that its interior is asymmetric

Jupiter’s Turbulent Atmosphere

Tue, 13/05/2025 - 10:07
Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Image processing: Jackie Branc (CC BY)

JunoCam, the visible light imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, captured this view of Jupiter’s northern high latitudes during the spacecraft’s 69th flyby of the giant planet on Jan. 28, 2025. Jupiter’s belts and zones stand out in this enhanced color rendition, along with the turbulence along their edges caused by winds going in different directions.

The original JunoCam data used to produce this view was taken from an altitude of about 36,000 miles (58,000 kilometers) above Jupiter’s cloud tops. JunoCam’s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products. Citizen scientist Jackie Branc processed the image.

Since Juno arrived at Jupiter in 2016, it has been probing beneath the dense, forbidding clouds encircling the giant planet – the first orbiter to peer so closely. It seeks answers to questions about the origin and evolution of Jupiter, our solar system, and giant planets across the cosmos.

Learn more about NASA citizen science.

Image credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Image processing: Jackie Branc (CC BY)

Scientists in a race to discover why the Universe exists

Tue, 13/05/2025 - 10:06

Researchers in the US and Japan are racing to build new particle detectors that they hope will explain why the Universe exists.

Alien megastructures would likely self-destruct before we spot them

Tue, 13/05/2025 - 10:06

Dyson spheres, a type of huge megastructure designed to capture the energy output of a star, would be a sign of an alien civilisation – if we can find one before they disappear

Was a famous supernova an alien invader from another galaxy?

Sat, 10/05/2025 - 17:41

Kepler's Supernova, seen in 1604, is one of the most famous exploding stars ever seen, and now astronomers think it may have been an interloper from another galaxy