spacetelescopescience

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This visualization traverses the CANDELS Ultra Deep Survey field by the Hubble Space Telescope to showcase the varied appearances of galaxies and their three-dimensional distribution.

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Friendship photo time! Meet Neptune and one of its many moons, Triton.

In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope captured this near-infrared view of the Neptune system. With its stunning resolution, the telescope imaged the planet’s rings, windy atmosphere, and methane-ice clouds.

Located approximately 2.7 billion miles from Earth, Neptune is an ice giant planet. Its interior contains elements and molecules heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as methane. While methane appears blue in visible wavelengths, in the near-infrared, the planet appears dark since methane strongly absorbs this wavelength of light. High-altitude clouds are an exception and appear here as bright streaks and spots across the planet: https://bit.ly/4fZQO8N

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The James Webb Space Telescope orbits the Sun near Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), approximately 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Earth. L2 is one of five Sun-Earth Lagrange points, positions in space where the gravitational pull of the Sun and Earth balance the orbital motion of small objects (like spacecraft or asteroids). At these points in space, the gravity of the two large objects balances the orbital motion of the third object. Lagrange points can be used by spacecraft to reduce propellant consumption needed to remain in position. Objects in that region have the same orbital period (length of year) as Earth. As the Earth moves around the Sun the L2 point moves as well, so the Sun, Earth, and L2 always form a straight line. This makes it possible for Webb to remain in constant communication with Earth, since it is always in the same direction and at roughly the same distance from our planet. Webb is not located exactly at L2, but instead orbits L2, completing one circuit every 168 days. This "halo orbit" around L2 is highly elliptical and is roughly perpendicular to its orbital path around the Sun. The distance between Webb and L2 varies between about 250,000 and 830,000 kilometers (150,000 to 500,000 miles). Because of this complex orbit, Webb's precise distance from Earth varies over time. Sizes and distances in this illustration are not to scale. Credit: NASA, STScI.

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The black hole at the center of our galaxy is slowly revealing its secrets. Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have spotted faint flickers and brighter flares of infrared light coming from the disk of hot gas surrounding the black hole. The flickers happen so quickly that they must come from a region close to the inner edge of the disk: https://webbtelescope.pub/40Zh1yO

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Both the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument are capable of using coronagraphs, opaque disks that block the bright light of stars to reveal much dimmer nearby objects, such as exoplanets and debris disks: https://webbtelescope.pub/3PMNi75

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This Hubble image isn’t uniform. Why? Dust is between us and this globular star cluster Terzan 12, which is is about 15,000 light-years from Earth. The dust clouds cause different parts of the cluster appear redder: https://bit.ly/428s4YT

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One thing is true for both stars and humans: We slow down as we age.

Stars spin more slowly as time passes, and telescopes can measure their rotation rates by looking for starspots: darker and cooler patches on stars that spin with the star.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s wide field of view will capture billions of stars and its accuracy will allow scientists to pinpoint the ages of stars. By observing how the brightness of stars changes over time, scientists will be able to calculate stars’ rotation rates and estimate the ages of the stars.

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The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will calculate the expansion rate of our universe by searching for gravitationally lensed supernovas, which are exceedingly rare events.

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Bullseye! Researchers using Hubble found a massive galaxy rippling with nine star-filled rings after an “arrow,” the blue dwarf galaxy to its center-left, plunged through its core 50 million years ago. A thin trail of gas still links the pair: https://bit.ly/4hcX52n

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In recent years, the James Webb Space Telescope has provided closeups of planets with rings in our solar system. Planets’ rings are active, dynamic structures that undergo daily temperature shifts, seasons, and even form moons: https://webbtelescope.pub/3CuFTWT

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Who’s ready to party? This is a close-knit collection of five galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40, as seen by Hubble. There are three spiral galaxies, an elliptical galaxy, and a lenticular (lens-like) galaxy. Details: https://bit.ly/3BkX78H

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The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will look for signs of dark matter in the gaps of stellar streams. These trails of stars form at the edge of galaxies due to gravity ripping apart globular star clusters. Spaces between the stars can indicate the influence of dark matter.

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The dust grain: small but packed with potential. Begin your journey as a dust grain, make choices, and unlock your destiny. Do you end up contributing to rocky planet formation? Grow into a gas giant? Adopt the dust belt lifestyle? Let us know: https://bit.ly/3BkBi9m

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Stars form in super-cold clouds of gas and dust. Gas clumps collide, and build mass, eventually collapsing to form stars.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s view of the Serpens Nebula shows a dense cluster of newly forming stars that is about 100,000 years old.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI.

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Fireworks fade but photos don’t! Slowly take in this James Webb Space Telescope image of Westerlund 1, a star cluster that contains a diverse stellar population.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), M. G. Guarcello (INAF-OAPA) and the EWOCS team, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb).

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One galaxy, two images, two great observatories.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s, at left, shows near- and mid-infrared light, and Hubble’s, at right, combines visible and ultraviolet light.

Read the full rundown: https://webbtelescope.pub/4gvgFpL

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Ready for some fireworks? 💥 One of the most powerful explosions our universe can produce is a kilonova. This incredibly rare event happens when either two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole collide.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be able to look for these showstopping explosions by scanning large swaths of the sky. Its field of view is 200 times larger than Hubble’s infrared view, which allows it to survey space at incredible speeds. Roman will be able to detect these elusive, intense events much more frequently.