Astrophysics Division

Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Galaxy clusters
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
The Universe
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy cluster, called CL0016+1609 or MACS J0018.5+1626, that is very bright at X-ray wavelengths and is one of the most extensively studied clusters at X-ray and radio wavelengths. The X-ray observations of this cluster revealed that it is two clusters merging along our line of sight.
Posted June 18, 2026
Astrophysics Division
Brown Dwarfs
Citizen Science
WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer)
Some stars have planets. Others are orbited by brown dwarfs, balls of gas too massive to be planets, but too low-mass to be stars. Astronomers love these brown dwarf-star pairs because being paired with a star helps reveal a brown dwarf’s age. Ages of astronomical objects are often hard to measure, but essential for understanding […]
Posted June 17, 2026
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Exoplanets
Goddard Space Flight Center
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Science & Research
The Universe
That’s the latest from researchers analyzing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of HD 80606 b, an exoplanet four times the mass of Jupiter with an extremely elliptical orbit that sweeps close by its Sun-like star.
Posted June 17, 2026
Astrophysics Division
Citizen Science
Help identify star-forming clumps in galaxy images, and help train machines to do the same.
Posted June 2, 2026
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Spiral Galaxies
The Universe
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the active spiral galaxy Messier 88 (M88), located about 63 million light-years away.
Posted May 29, 2026
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) is a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program mission designed to detect the most energetic particles in the universe. 
Posted May 26, 2026
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
The Universe
Look closely at this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and you’ll see galaxies of various shapes and sizes clustered together toward the center-left of the image. A few foreground stars shine brightly and are easily distinguished by the spikes that appear to extend outward from each star. These spikes, called diffraction spikes, are the […]
Posted May 22, 2026
Astrophysics Division
Exoplanet Science
Exoplanets
Technology Highlights
A recently developed ultra-black coating not only efficiently absorbs light, but is also extremely thin and durable, enabling its potential use on starshades that could someday support the imaging of exoplanets and potentially facilitate the detection of life beyond our solar system. 
Posted May 12, 2026
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Exoplanets
Goddard Space Flight Center
Gravitational Lensing
Hubble Space Telescope
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Stars
The Milky Way
The Milky Way’s galactic bulge, the bulbous region that surrounds the galactic center, contains a dense collection of stars, planets, and other free-floating objects. This region has been studied for decades with numerous ground-based and space-based telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.
Posted May 11, 2026
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Citizen Science
A new paper from NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project announces that volunteers have essentially doubled the number of known brown dwarfs, with over 3,000 new discoveries made over the past 10 years since the project began. Brown dwarfs are balls of gas the size of Jupiter, less massive than stars.
Posted May 5, 2026
Sign up for our newsletter:

Categories

29
1
1
1
2
10
1
52
193
1
24
1
365
6
3
14
147
1
3
12
18
4
1
1
4
1
4
18
2
196
2
37
12
1
11
17
2
6
103
4
10
2
6
2
3
3
1
Io
4
14
29
1
6
5
12
43
13
6
1
2
1
3
260
10
1
2
220
1
7
10
1
10
1
1
10
4
624
344
3
1
58
1

Recent Posts

Newsletter Archive