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The newly-discovered lensed star in the Abell 2744 galaxy-cluster field. Image credit: Chen et al., arXiv: 2207.11658.

Webb Detects Blue Supergiant Star in Early Universe

Sep 1, 2022 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered blue supergiant is much hotter than the Sun, and existed when the Universe was about 2.6 billion years old. Left panel shows the color...

This artist’s conception shows the stream of gas and stars that were flung away from a massive galaxy during its merger with a smaller galaxy. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / S. Dagnello, NRAO, AUI & NSF.

Massive Galaxy Strips Star-Forming Gas from Smaller Galaxy during Encounter

Aug 30, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have observed SDSS J144845.91+101010.5,...

This image, taken with the HAWK-I infrared instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the Sagittarius B1 region. Image credit: ESO / Nogueras-Lara et al.

Astronomers Detect Excess of Young Stars in Sagittarius B1

Aug 29, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Sagittarius B1, a region close to the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, hosts more than 100,000 solar masses of young stars. This image, taken with the...

Messier 74, a grand design spiral galaxy located 32 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces, shines at its brightest in this combined optical/mid-infrared image, featuring Webb and Hubble data. The red colors mark dust threaded through the arms of the galaxy, lighter oranges being areas of hotter dust. The young stars throughout the arms and the nuclear core are picked out in blue. Heavier, older stars towards the galaxy’s center are shown in cyan and green, projecting a spooky glow from the core of Messier 74. Bubbles of star formation are also visible in pink across the arms. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Hubble / J. Lee / PHANGS-JWST Team / R. Chandar / J. Schmidt.

Webb and Hubble Observe Messier 74 in Multiple Wavelengths

Aug 29, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

New data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope compliment each other to provide a comprehensive view...

This Webb/NIRCam image shows the lensed star Earendel (center). Image credit: Welch et al., arXiv: 2208.09007.

Webb Sheds New Light on Stellar Properties of Earendel, Farthest Known Star

Aug 26, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Earendel is a B-type giant star, a luminous blue variable star, or even a binary system with an extremely hot primary member, according to new observations...

This transmission spectrum of WASP-39b was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on July 10, 2022. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Leah Hustak, STScI / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Webb Detects Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere of Hot-Saturn WASP-39b

Aug 25, 2022 by News Staff

Carbon dioxide is a key chemical species that is found in a wide range of planetary atmospheres. This transmission spectrum of WASP-39b was captured by...

An artistic rendition of the super-Earth TOI-1452b. Image credit: Benoit Gougeon, Université de Montréal.

Water-World Super-Earth Found in Nearby Binary System

Aug 24, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the SPIRou spectropolarimeter on the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii telescope have...

This NIRCam/Webb image from two filters -- F212N (orange) and F335M (cyan)-- shows the Jupiter system. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Jupiter ERS Team / Ricardo Hueso, UPV & EHU / Judy Schmidt.

Webb Team Releases New Photos of Jupiter

Aug 23, 2022 by News Staff

The two new images of Jupiter were taken with Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which has three specialized infrared filters that showcase details...

An artist’s illustration of a protoplanetary disk; the insert displays carbon monoxide molecules in the ice phase. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard & Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics.

Astronomers Solve Mystery of Missing Gaseous Carbon Monoxide in Protoplanetary Disks

Aug 23, 2022 by News Staff

Carbon monoxide is ultra-bright and extremely common in protoplanetary disks, making it a prime target for astronomers. But a huge chunk of carbon monoxide...

This Webb image shows members of the SMACS0723_PC protocluster: the red circles show the position of the two spectroscopically confirmed galaxies and the green circles are at the position of the six other protocluster members candidates. Image credit: Laporte et al., arXiv: 2208.04930.

Webb Finds Protocluster of Galaxies in Early Universe

Aug 22, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers from the University of Cambridge and elsewhere have analyzed the spectroscopic and photometric data from three instruments (NIRSpec, NIRISS...

This image, taken with the Zorro imager on the 8.1-m Gemini South telescope, shows R136a1, the largest star yet discovered. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini South Telescope Captures Best Ever Images of Most Massive Known Star

Aug 22, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

R136a1 has a mass between 170 and 230 solar masses, according to an analysis of optical data from the speckle imager Zorro mounted on the 8.1-m Gemini...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1156, a dwarf irregular galaxy located 25 million light-years away in the constellation of Aries. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through five filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R.B. Tully / R. Jansen / R. Windhorst.

Hubble Observes Magellanic-Type Dwarf Irregular Galaxy

Aug 22, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a spectacularly detailed image of an isolated dwarf irregular galaxy called NGC 1156. This Hubble image...

GLASS-JWST-BD1. Image credit: Nonino et al., arXiv: 2207.14802.

Webb Detects Cold Brown Dwarf Roughly 2,000 Light-Years Away

Aug 19, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have spotted a faint, distant, and cold brown dwarf in the images of the massive galaxy cluster...

The main panel of this image shows a wide-field view of NGC 4424 in optical light from Hubble. The image is about 45,000 light-years wide. The inset features a close-up view of NGC 4424 that shows Chandra X-ray data (blue) plus a version of the optical data (red) that has had light from a model of NGC 4424 subtracted from the image to show other faint features. This inset image is about 1,700 light-years across. The Nikhuli star cluster is the elongated red object. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Swinburne University of Technology / Graham et al. / ESA / STScI.

Astronomers Witness ‘Black Hole Delivery System’ in Action

Aug 18, 2022 by Natali Anderson

A rare intermediate-mass black hole may have been delivered to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4424 by another, smaller galaxy, according to an analysis of...

The emission from M87* has been resolved into a bright, thin ring (orange colormap), arising from the infinite sequence of additional images of the emission region, and the more diffuse primary image, produced by the photons that come directly toward Earth (in blue contours); when viewed at the imaging resolution of the Event Horizon Telescope, the two components blur together; however, by separately searching for the thin ring, it is possible to sharpen the view of M87*, isolating the fingerprint of strong gravity. Image credit: Broderick et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac7c1d.

Astrophysicists Produce Image of Supermassive Black Hole’s Photon Ring

Aug 17, 2022 by News Staff

In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration released stunning images of M87*, a supermassive black hole in the center of Messier 87,...

An artist’s impression of the asteroid Polymele. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Trojan Asteroid Polymele Has Small Moon

Aug 17, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Jupiter trojan asteroid 15094 Polymele and its small satellite are among the targets of NASA’s Lucy mission, which will approach the asteroid system...

This image of NGC 7727 was captured by the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Sees Spectacular Cosmic Collision: NGC 7727

Aug 16, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have taken a picture of...

The NameExoWorlds 2022 competition offers the opportunity to name 20 exoplanets and their host stars. Image credit: IAU OAO / NARIT.

NameExoWorlds 2022: Here’s Your Chance to Name One of Webb’s Exoplanet Targets

Aug 16, 2022 by News Staff

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has announced a contest to name extrasolar planetary systems to be observed by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space...

Color image of the Sparkler galaxy made by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Image credit: Mowla et al., arXiv: 2208.02233.

Webb Spots Ancient Globular Clusters in Gravitationally Lensed Galaxy

Aug 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have spotted ancient globular clusters around a remarkable galaxy that is strongly gravitationally...