telescopes

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has released one of its largest images to date, revealing record-breaking stars concealed within clouds of dust. The observation, highlighted by Live Science as its space photo of the week, showcases the telescope's ability to peer through obscuring material and capture distant stellar objects in unprecedented detail.

A Canadian telescope has for the first time directly mapped the earliest glow of hydrogen in the universe, according to an announcement from researchers at the University of British Columbia. The result, reported through EurekAlert! and UBC science communications, opens what researchers describe as a new observational window on the early cosmos, allowing astronomers to study the epoch when the first hydrogen gas filled the universe.

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has captured starlight for the first time, a key early test of its optics and instruments. The milestone marks progress for the wide-field observatory designed to survey vast stretches of the sky, study dark energy and hunt for exoplanets as it moves toward full science operations.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed an exotic spiral galaxy that appears to be rotating in two opposite directions at the same time. The rare finding, reported by NASA and covered by outlets including Mashable, offers astronomers an unusual case study in galactic dynamics and may prompt further research into how such counter-rotating structures form.

NASA is celebrating a milestone for the Hubble Space Telescope, which this month completed its 200,000th orbit around Earth. The space agency marked the occasion by releasing a striking new image. Hubble has now been operating in space for more than 36 years and continues to make new discoveries despite its age.

The James Webb Space Telescope, operated by NASA, ESA and CSA, has released one of its largest panoramic images to date: the IC 348 star-forming region, filled with hundreds of young stars and brown dwarfs. Astronomy enthusiasts say the observation offers a valuable window into the earliest stages of star and planet formation.

The Cartwheel Galaxy is drawing attention after new imagery showcased its striking ring shape, the result of a cosmic collision. The galaxy, located hundreds of millions of light-years away, was observed by space telescopes including NASA and ESA's James Webb, revealing details of its structure and the violent encounter that shaped it. Space enthusiasts are sharing the spectacular images widely.

A Hubble Space Telescope image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, also catalogued as M101 or Arp 26, has been shared widely. The image captures a section of the spiral galaxy containing more than 3,000 bright clusters of hot, young blue stars, and was released by NASA and the ESA through the ESA/Hubble archive.

China's Einstein Probe satellite is drawing attention for its unusual wide-field view of the X-ray universe. The spacecraft uses 'lobster eye' optics, a design inspired by how lobsters' eyes reflect light, allowing it to monitor a large swath of the sky at once. That means any sudden, violent X-ray event, such as a supernova or a feeding black hole, is likely to be caught quickly, giving astronomers worldwide rapid alerts to follow up with telescopes.

Astronomers report the first detection of radio signals coming from Beta Pictoris b, a giant exoplanet about 63 light-years away orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. The detection, made with radio telescopes, is being described as a breakthrough because radio emissions from planets outside our Solar System are extremely faint and rarely captured, opening a new way to study distant worlds.

American astronomer Henry Draper captured the first photograph of the Orion Nebula on September 30, 1880, a landmark moment in the history of astrophotography. Working with an 11-inch Alvan Clark refractor telescope and the then-new dry-plate photographic process, Draper succeeded in imaging the nebula from Earth for the first time. The anniversary is being noted in science and astronomy circles.

The European Southern Observatory has released a new image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3981, also catalogued as Arp 289, taken with the Very Large Telescope in Chile. The picture was made under the Cosmic Gems Program, which photographs visually beautiful southern-sky objects during nights when conditions are unsuitable for scientific observations. The image is being shared and admired by astronomy enthusiasts online.

Astronomers have released a time-lapse built from 12 years of telescope images showing a star with four planets orbiting around it. The sequence captures the planets moving along their orbits, offering a rare direct visual of an exoplanet system in motion. Space enthusiasts are sharing the footage widely, calling it a striking illustration of how exoplanet imaging has matured over the past decade.

The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its instruments back toward the extreme deep field, the region of space previously imaged by Hubble, and the new observations are being described as remarkable. Reports say Webb's infrared vision revealed distant galaxies in unprecedented detail, offering fresh insight into how the earliest structures in the universe formed and evolved over cosmic time.

The James Webb Space Telescope has released a new image of one of the most visually striking gravitational lenses observed to date. The photograph shows distant light warped into dramatic arcs by the gravity of a foreground galaxy, and the image is drawing attention from astronomy and photography enthusiasts alike.

A proposed NASA telescope could detect rainbow-like optical phenomena, known as glory effects, in the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, according to Scientific American. Spotting these colorful patterns would reveal details about exoplanet atmospheres, such as the presence of water droplets or other particles, offering a new way to study potentially habitable worlds far beyond our solar system.

The James Webb Space Telescope's view of the Pillars of Creation, colossal columns of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, is being widely shared. The structures stretch light-years tall, and within them new stars are actively forming, making the image both a striking visual and a snapshot of star birth in progress.

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has had its expected mission duration extended from 10 to 22 years after engineers found the spacecraft carries significantly more propellant than planned. Efficient construction and launch factors left unused fuel margin, allowing the wide-field survey telescope to operate far longer than its baseline design.

Users of BOINC, the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing platform that lets volunteers donate spare computer power to scientific research, are asking who still runs the software and which projects they support. One longtime participant recalls running SETI@home, the famous search for extraterrestrial intelligence, which originally used data from the Arecibo radio telescope. The exchange has drawn responses comparing current projects.

Stargazers are being urged to look up this weekend as Saturn reaches one of its best viewing opportunities. Outlets including Nautilus are highlighting the planet's rings, which are currently tilted to give an especially striking view through telescopes and even binoculars. Amateur astronomers are sharing tips on when and where to catch the spectacle, with clear dark skies recommended for the best look.

A striking Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 3132, known as the Eight Burst Nebula, is circulating among space enthusiasts and astrophotography communities. The planetary nebula, captured with credits to NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team, STScI and AURA, is being praised for its vivid rings of gas and its place in the ongoing wave of popular space imagery.

A NASA space telescope project has moved forward with three members of a Johns Hopkins University team playing key roles, the university announced. The institution highlighted its researchers' contributions to the mission, which is progressing through its development stages. Details about the telescope's specific goals and timeline were not provided in the announcement.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA's upcoming wide-field infrared observatory, has reportedly extended its planned operational lifetime from five to ten years by adopting a fuel-efficient route to its observing point. Engineers achieved the doubling by conserving propellant during the journey to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2, giving astronomers far more observing time.

The ALMA observatory is opening its doors to the public as part of Science Month, marking 15 years since it began observing the universe. The anniversary celebration invites visitors to learn about the radio telescope's work in Chile's Atacama Desert and its contributions to astronomy over the past decade and a half.

Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been speaking to science writer Karmela Padavic-Callaghan about a set of striking images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The photographs feature in her newly published book, and the interview appeared in New Scientist, drawing attention to the observatory's latest views of the cosmos.