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telescope

An illustration of the event horizon of a black hole

A Space Flash Detected in February Was a Black Hole Devouring an Unassuming Star

The bright light was the result of a rare cosmic occurrence known as a tidal disruption event

James Webb's new image of L1527

James Webb Captures a Protostar in a Fiery Hourglass

The very young star is a window into our own solar system’s past

An artist's rendition of an asteroid. 

Three Near-Earth Asteroids Were Hiding in the Sun’s Glare

One of them, which measures nearly one mile wide, might cross paths with Earth in the distant future

The afterglow of the gamma-ray burst as captured by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory's X-ray telescope. 

This Powerful Gamma-Ray Blast Was the ‘Brightest of All Time’

Astronomers are “in awe” of the high-energy explosion, probably caused by a giant star’s death

James Webb captured the iconic star-forming region with its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).

Marvel at James Webb’s Stunning New Portrait of the Pillars of Creation

The haunting, finger-like shapes are part of the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region located some 6,500 light-years away

The Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Is Slowly Falling—and SpaceX Wants to Give It a Boost

NASA and SpaceX will jointly study whether the private company could lift the space telescope to a higher orbit

An artist's rendering of a field of first-generation stars as they would have appeared 100 million years after the Big Bang. 

An Early Star’s Remains May Be Swirling Around a Black Hole

The first stars exploded long ago, but scientists say they’ve detected the chemical fingerprint that one of them left behind

The spiral galaxy IC 5332, as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument

See the Eerily Beautiful Image James Webb Captured of a Spiral Galaxy

The spooky-looking structure, known as IC 5332, is about 29 million light-years away from Earth

These telesopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile were used to discover the new planet. The project also has telescopes on Tenerife, an island west of Morocco. 

Scientists Discover a Planet With the Potential to Support Life

It orbits a small, cold star about 100 light-years from Earth

In “Postage Pairings,” from the National Portrait Gallery, host Kim Sajet speaks with the Smithsonian's Daniel Piazza, curator of philately, about postage stamps (left: 29c single, july 30, 1993) reproduced from portraits (right: Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Siffred Duplessis, c. 1785).

The Revolutionary Role Mail Played in America’s Fight for Independence

Hear about the colonial period postal service in the latest “Portraits” podcast

An artist's rendition of the exoplanet, called WASP-39b

Webb Telescope Detects Carbon Dioxide on a Far-Away Planet

Finding this greenhouse gas on other worlds could give scientists clues in the search for extraterrestrial life

James Webb Space Telescope composite image of Jupiter 

See the James Webb Space Telescope’s Stunning New Images of Jupiter

Its Near-Infrared Camera captured auroras, moons and the Great Red Spot

The Cartwheel Galaxy

See the James Webb Space Telescope’s Dazzling New Photo of the Cartwheel Galaxy

Located 500 million light-years away in the Sculptor constellation, the galaxy got its unique wagon wheel-like shape from a cosmic collision

NIRCam enhanced closeup of the galaxy GLASS-z13

The James Webb Space Telescope Might Have Spotted the Most Distant Galaxy Ever Seen

Scientists think the light detected by the telescope is from just 300 million years after the Big Bang

The James Webb Space Telescope's first Deep Field image

NASA Releases First Breathtaking Images Taken by James Webb Space Telescope

The five pictures from the most powerful space observatory ever launched offer a deep look back in time and the promise of stellar things to come

An digital illustration of a black hole in space

Hubble Space Telescope May Have Spotted a Moving Black Hole

Two teams analyzed data from NASA’s telescope and found a compact object, which may be either a black hole or a neutron star

Scientists want to open a dialogue with intelligent extraterrestrial beings in the Milky Way.

Art Meets Science

Why NASA Scientists Want to Send Nudes to Space

The naked truth: It’s a plan to make contact with intelligent life forms in the Milky Way

The Hickson Compact Group 40 features five galaxies caught in a gravitational dance.

Hubble Space Telescope’s 32nd Anniversary Photo Features Dramatic Galaxy Cluster

The five galaxies, dubbed the Hickson Compact Group 40, will merge in roughly a billion years

An image of the original 1970s Arecibo message. 

These Space Scientists Want to Update Earth’s Message to Extraterrestrials

The broadcast builds on the 1974 Arecibo message and portrays information about science, math and human life

The star, HD 84406 is seen as 18 photons because it is refracted by the telescopes 18 misaligned mirrors.  

James Webb Space Telescope’s First Look at Outer Space Is a Kaleidoscope of Faint Starlight

As NASA astronomers adjust its mirrors over the next month, the dots of light will eventually align into one image of a star in Ursa Major

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