Telescope
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NASA
NASA Webb Looks at Earth-Sized, Habitable-Zone Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e
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?” “Webb’s infrared instruments are giving us more…
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NASA
NASA Test Deploys Roman Space Telescope Solar Panels, ‘Visor’
On Aug. 7 and 8, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team assessed the observatory’s solar panels and a visor-like sunshade called the deployable aperture cover — two components that will be stowed for launch and unfold in space. Engineers confirmed their successful operation during a closely monitored sequence in simulated space-like conditions. On the first day, Roman’s four outer solar panels were deployed…
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NASA
Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler
Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their stars’ faces. The model builds on a technique researchers have used for decades to study star spots. By improving astronomers’ understanding of spotty stars, the new model — called StarryStarryProcess — can help discover more about…
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NASA
NASA Roman Core Survey Will Trace Cosmic Expansion Over Time
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be a discovery machine, thanks to its wide field of view and resulting torrent of data. Scheduled to launch no later than May 2027, with the team working toward launch as early as fall 2026, its near-infrared Wide Field Instrument will capture an area 200 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope’s infrared camera, and…
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NASA
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Team Installs Observatory’s Solar Panels
On June 14 and 16, technicians installed solar panels onto NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, one of the final steps in assembling the observatory. Collectively called the Solar Array Sun Shield, these panels will power and shade the observatory, enabling all the mission’s observations and helping keep the instruments cool. In this photo, technicians install solar panels onto the…
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NASA
How a Childhood Telescope Launched a NASA Career
Christina Zeringue remembers being 10 years old, looking to the sky through her new telescope to view the Moon and planets on Christmas night. It opened her eyes to space and inspired her journey from the backyard to NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. “I became fascinated with astronomy and learning about stars and constellations, the solar…
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NASA
NASA Telescopes Tune Into a Black Hole Prelude, Fugue
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 Explorer (IXPE). This trio of sonifications represents different…
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Press Releases
Unistellar Collaborates with SETI Institute to Unleash Your Inner Galileo
Unistellar, pioneer of smart telescopes with amplified vision, is announcing its collaboration with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute to launch the Satellites Program, a groundbreaking citizen science initiative that empowers telescope users to track satellite positions and measure their brightness. By contributing real-time observations, participants will help researchers refine orbital models and explore ways to reduce stray reflections, ensuring…
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NASA
6 Things to Know About SPHEREx, NASA’s Newest Space Telescope
Shaped like a megaphone, the upcoming mission will map the entire sky in infrared light to answer big questions about the universe. Expected to launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory will provide astronomers with a big-picture view of the cosmos like none before. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the…
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NASA
Webb Watches Carbon-Rich Dust Shells Form, Expand in Star System
Astronomers have long tried to track down how elements like carbon, which is essential for life, become widely distributed across the universe. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has examined one ongoing source of carbon-rich dust in our own Milky Way galaxy in greater detail: Wolf-Rayet 140, a system of two massive stars that follow a tight, elongated orbit. As…
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