Press Releases
Showing 1 to 24 of 563.
How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Illuminate Cosmic Dawn
2024.07.25
Today, enormous stretches of space are crystal clear, but that wasn’t always the case. During its infancy, the universe was filled with a “fog” that made it opaque, cloaking the first stars and galaxies. NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will probe the universe’s subsequent transition to the brilliant starscape we see today –– […]
NASA’s Webb Images Cold Exoplanet 12 Light-Years Away
2024.07.24
An international team of astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has directly imaged an exoplanet roughly 12 light-years from Earth. The planet, Epsilon Indi Ab, is one of the coldest exoplanets observed to date.
NASA’s Webb Investigates Eternal Sunrises, Sunsets on Distant World
2024.07.15
Near-infrared spectral analysis of terminator confirms differences in morning and evening atmosphere Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have finally confirmed what models have previously predicted: An exoplanet has differences between its eternal morning and eternal evening atmosphere. WASP-39 b, a giant planet with a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter, but similar mass […]
Vivid Portrait of Interacting Galaxies Marks Webb’s Second Anniversary
2024.07.12
Two for two! A duo of interacting galaxies commemorates the second science anniversary of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which takes constant observations, including images and highly detailed data known as spectra. Its operations have led to a “parade” of discoveries by astronomers around the world.
NASA’s Webb Captures Celestial Fireworks Around Forming Star
2024.07.02
The cosmos seems to come alive with a crackling explosion of pyrotechnics in this new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Taken with Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), this fiery hourglass marks the scene of a very young object in the process of becoming a star.
Pillars of Creation Star in New Visualization from NASA’s Hubble and Webb Telescopes
2024.06.26
Made famous in 1995 by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the Pillars of Creation in the heart of the Eagle Nebula have captured imaginations worldwide with their arresting, ethereal beauty. Now, NASA has released a new 3D visualization of these towering celestial structures using data from NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. This is the […]
First of Its Kind Detection Made in Striking New Webb Image
2024.06.20
Alignment of bipolar jets confirms star formation theories For the first time, a phenomenon astronomers have long hoped to directly image has been captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). In this stunning image of the Serpens Nebula, the discovery lies in the northern area (seen at the upper left) of this […]
Investigating the Origins of the Crab Nebula With NASA’s Webb
2024.06.19
A team of scientists used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to parse the composition of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.
NASA’s Webb Reveals Long-Studied Star Is Actually Twins
2024.06.13
Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory through launch, Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument also revealed jets of gas flowing into space from the twin stars.
NASA’s Roman Mission Gets Cosmic ‘Sneak Peek’ From Supercomputers
2024.06.12
Researchers are diving into a synthetic universe to help us better understand the real one. Using supercomputers at the U.S. DOE’s (Department of Energy’s) Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, scientists have created nearly 4 million simulated images depicting the cosmos as NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded […]
NASA’s Webb Opens New Window on Supernova Science
2024.06.10
Peering deeply into the cosmos, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving scientists their first detailed glimpse of supernovae from a time when our universe was just a small fraction of its current age. A team using Webb data has identified 10 times more supernovae in the early universe than were previously known. A few […]
Webb Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star
2024.06.06
An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study the disk of gas and dust around a young, very low-mass star.
Galaxies Actively Forming in Early Universe Caught Feeding on Cold Gas
2024.05.23
Researchers analyzing data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed three galaxies that may be actively forming when the universe was only 400 to 600 million years old. Webb’s data shows these galaxies are surrounded by gas that the researchers suspect to be almost purely hydrogen and helium, the earliest elements to exist in […]
Webb Cracks Case of Inflated Exoplanet
2024.05.20
Why is the warm gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b so puffy? Two independent teams of researchers have an answer.
NASA’s Webb Hints at Possible Atmosphere Surrounding Rocky Exoplanet
2024.05.08
Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may have detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. This is the best evidence to date for the existence of any rocky planet atmosphere outside our solar system.
How NASA’s Roman Mission Will Hunt for Primordial Black Holes
2024.05.07
Astronomers have discovered black holes ranging from a few times the Sun’s mass to tens of billions. Now a group of scientists has predicted that NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could find a class of “featherweight” black holes that has so far eluded detection. Today, black holes form either when a massive star collapses […]
New NASA Black Hole Visualization Takes Viewers Beyond the Brink
2024.05.06
Ever wonder what happens when you fall into a black hole? Now, thanks to a new, immersive visualization produced on a NASA supercomputer, viewers can plunge into the event horizon, a black hole’s point of no return. “People often ask about this, and simulating these difficult-to-imagine processes helps me connect the mathematics of relativity to […]
NASA’s Webb Maps Weather on Planet 280 Light-Years Away
2024.04.30
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.
Webb Captures Top of Iconic Horsehead Nebula in Unprecedented Detail
2024.04.29
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.
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope’s ‘Eyes’ Pass First Vision Test
2024.04.17
Engineers at L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, have combined all 10 mirrors for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Preliminary tests show the newly aligned optics, collectively called the IOA (Imaging Optics Assembly), will direct light into Roman’s science instruments extremely precisely. This will yield crisp images of space once the observatory launches. “This […]
How NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Measure Ages of Stars
2024.04.04
Guessing your age might be a popular carnival game, but for astronomers it’s a real challenge to determine the ages of stars. Once a star like our Sun has settled into steady nuclear fusion, or the mature phase of its life, it changes little for billions of years. One exception to that rule is the […]
NASA’s Webb Probes an Extreme Starburst Galaxy
2024.04.03
A team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to survey the starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82). Located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, this galaxy is relatively compact in size but hosts a frenzy of star formation activity.
NASA Invites Media to 61st Annual Goddard Space Science Symposium
2024.03.14
Media are invited to attend the 61st annual Goddard Space Science Symposium (formerly the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium), which will take place March 20-22, 2024, at the Brendan Iribe Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The symposium will also be streamed online.
Cheers! NASA’s Webb Finds Ethanol, Other Icy Ingredients for Worlds
2024.03.13
Editor’s Note: This article was updated March 13, 2024, to clarify the likelihood that chemicals found around IRAS 2A were present in the first stages of development of our solar system. What do margaritas, vinegar, and ant stings have in common? They contain chemical ingredients that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has identified surrounding two […]
Showing 1 to 24 of 563.