The scientists behind NASA’s largest and most powerful space telescope ever built are bracing for potentially crippling budget cuts, and the observatory is only halfway through its primary mission. The team overseeing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been directed to prepare for up to 20% in budget cuts that would touch on every … Read more
The black hole at the heart of our galaxy is a real party animal, endlessly blowing cosmic bubbles. The findings aren’t frivolous at all and could help us better understand how black holes interact with their environments and help galaxies evolve. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists discovered that the Milky Way’s central … Read more
How do you cool down a phoenix? I don’t mean the mythological birds of flame and rebirth, but rather a cosmic namesake with a fittingly fiery nature. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers may finally have the answer. They used the powerful instrument to investigate the extreme cooling of gas in the Phoenix … Read more
Sometimes, things across the vast Universe line up just right for us. The Einstein Ring above, like all Einstein Rings, has three parts. In the foreground is a distant massive object like a galaxy or galaxy cluster. In the background, at an even greater distance away, is a star or another galaxy. We’re the observers, … Read more
This is the optical module of the telescope KM3NeT that has captured the highest energy neutrino yet known. It made the discovery from the dark depths of the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Image via KM3NeT (CC BY-NC 4.0). Highest energy neutrino observed from undersea telescope There’s a telescope sitting more than a mile and … Read more
The Euclid space telescope has, by chance, discovered its first Einstein ring, and it is absolutely stunning. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, this perfectly circular Einstein ring has allowed researchers to “weigh” the dark matter at the heart of a galaxy almost 600 million light-years away. The European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft, which launched in July … Read more
A new study has revealed that temperamental stars that brighten and dim over the course of just a few hours could be distorting astronomers’ views of thousands of planets beyond the solar system. The team behind this research reached this conclusion by studying 20 extrasolar planets or “exoplanets” as they crossed, or “transited,” the faces … Read more
This Hubble image shows a supernova named SN 2022aajn in a distant galaxy about 600 million light-years away with the unwieldy name of WISEA J070815.11+210422.3. However, the obtuse yet scientifically descriptive names aren’t what’s important. What’s important is that SN 2022aajn is a Type 1a supernova, also known as a standard candle, and this image … Read more
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered that the centaur called 2060 Chiron is an oddball. The object, which is a minor body that orbits the sun in the expanse between Jupiter and Neptune, has a mixture of ices and gases that make it stand out from other objects in the distant outer solar system. … Read more
Spend Christmas with Comet A3 thanks to the Virtual Telescope Project. Watch live as the comet departs our neighborhood. Image via Virtual Telescope Project. The 2025 EarthSky Lunar Calendar is now available! A unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar. Get yours today! A goodbye glimpse of Comet A3 Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS made a great evening appearance … Read more