NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the first direct measurements of the chemical and physical properties of a potential moon-forming disk encircling a large exoplanet. The carbon-rich disk surrounding the world called CT Cha b, which is located 625 light-years away from Earth, is a possible construction yard for moons, although no moons are … Read more
The NASA Community College Network (NCCN) and the American Astronomical Society (AAS) have teamed up to provide an exciting and impactful program that brings top astronomy researchers into the classrooms of community colleges around the United States. The Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureship Program, named for astronomer Harlow Shapley (1885-1972), has a history dating back to … Read more
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy that’s hard to categorize. The galaxy in question is NGC 2775, which lies 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (the Crab). NGC 2775 sports a smooth, featureless center that is devoid of gas, resembling an elliptical galaxy. It also has a dusty ring with … Read more
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a colorful array of massive stars and glowing cosmic dust in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud, the most massive and active star-forming region in our Milky Way galaxy. “Webb’s powerful infrared instruments provide detail we’ve never been able to see before, which will help us to understand some … Read more
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals new details in Messier 82 (M82), home to brilliant stars whose light is shaded by sculptural clouds made of clumps and streaks of dust and gas. This image features the star-powered heart of the galaxy, located just 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great … Read more
A black hole is growing at one of the fastest rates ever recorded, according to a team of astronomers. This discovery from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory may help explain how some black holes can reach enormous masses relatively quickly after the big bang. The black hole weighs about a billion times the mass of the … Read more
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a cloudy starscape from an impressive star cluster. This scene is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa. With a mass equal to 10–20% of the mass of the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud … Read more
A blowtorch of seething gasses erupting from a volcanically growing monster star has been captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Stretching across 8 light-years, the length of the stellar eruption is approximately twice the distance between our Sun and the next nearest stars, the Alpha Centauri system. The size and strength of this particular … Read more
Scientists are in the midst of observing the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Careful analysis of the results so far presents several potential scenarios for what the planet’s atmosphere and surface may be like, as NASA science missions lay key groundwork to answer the question, “are we alone in the universe?” … Read more
While it may appear as just another spiral galaxy among billions in the universe, this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a galaxy with plenty to study. The galaxy, NGC 7456, is located over 51 million light-years away in the constellation Grus (the Crane). This Hubble image reveals fine detail in the galaxy’s … Read more