How Big is Space? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode: 61 – NASA

How Big is Space? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode: 61 – NASA

How big is space? Space is really big. Thinking about our solar system, let’s imagine you could get in a car and drive to Pluto at highway speeds. It would take you about 6,000 years to get there. When we start to think about other stars outside of our solar system, we need to think … Read more

Hubble Images Galaxies Near and Far – NASA Science

Hubble Images Galaxies Near and Far – NASA Science

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image offers us the chance to see a distant galaxy now some 19.5 billion light-years from Earth (but appearing as it did around 11 billion years ago, when the galaxy was 5.5 billion light-years away and began its trek to us through expanding space). Known as HerS 020941.1+001557, this remote … Read more

Hubble Pinpoints Young Stars in Spiral Galaxy – NASA Science

Hubble Pinpoints Young Stars in Spiral Galaxy – NASA Science

In this image, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope peers into the spiral galaxy NGC 1317 in the constellation Fornax, located more than 50 million light-years from Earth. Visible in this galaxy image is a bright blue ring that hosts hot, young stars. NGC 1317 is one of a pair, but its rowdy larger neighbor, NGC … Read more

Hubble Comes Face-to-Face with Spiral’s Arms – NASA Science

Hubble Comes Face-to-Face with Spiral’s Arms – NASA Science

The spiral galaxy NGC 3596 is on display in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image that incorporates six different wavelengths of light. NGC 3596 is situated 90 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, the Lion. British astronomer Sir William Herschel first documented the galaxy in 1784. NGC 3596 appears almost perfectly face-on when … Read more

NASA Telescopes Tune Into a Black Hole Prelude, Fugue – NASA

NASA Telescopes Tune Into a Black Hole Prelude, Fugue – NASA

NASA released three new pieces of cosmic sound Thursday that are associated with the densest and darkest members of our universe: black holes. These scientific productions are sonifications — or translations into sound — of data collected by NASA telescopes in space including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, James Webb Space Telescope, and Imaging X-ray Polarimetry … Read more

NASA’s Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole – NASA Science

NASA’s Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole – NASA Science

Like a scene out of a sci-fi movie, astronomers using NASA telescopes have found “Space Jaws.” Lurking 600 million light-years away, within the inky black depths between stars, there is an invisible monster gulping down any wayward star that plummets toward it. The sneaky black hole betrayed its presence in a newly identified tidal disruption … Read more

NASA’s NICER Maps Debris From Recurring Cosmic Crashes – NASA Science

NASA’s NICER Maps Debris From Recurring Cosmic Crashes – NASA Science

Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí. For the first time, astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions. Scientists have only recently encountered this class of X-ray flares, called QPEs, or quasi-periodic eruptions. … Read more

Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral – NASA Science

Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral – NASA Science

A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). The name Arp 184 comes from the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by astronomer Halton Arp in 1966. It … Read more

NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Begins Capturing Entire Sky – NASA

NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Begins Capturing Entire Sky – NASA

After weeks of preparation, the space observatory has begun its science mission, taking about 3,600 unique images per day to create a map of the cosmos like no other. Launched on March 11, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory has spent the last six weeks undergoing checkouts, calibrations, and other activities to ensure it is working as … Read more

The Universe’s Brightest Lights Have Some Dark Origins – NASA Science

The Universe’s Brightest Lights Have Some Dark Origins – NASA Science

Did you know some of the brightest sources of light in the sky come from the regions around black holes in the centers of galaxies? It sounds a little contradictory, but it’s true! They may not look bright to our eyes, but satellites have spotted oodles of them across the universe.  One of those satellites … Read more