Astrophysics Division

Astrophysics Division
Citizen Science
A “classification” is when a volunteer or citizen scientist finishes marking up or sorting one image or other piece of data. Each classification done by volunteers for the Redshift Wrangler project tells us something about the distance and age of a far-away galaxy, bringing us one step closer to understanding how galaxies evolve.
Posted March 6, 2025
Astrophysics Division
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Planetary Science
The Kuiper Belt
The puzzle of predicting how three gravitationally bound bodies move in space has challenged mathematicians for centuries, and has most recently been popularized in the novel and television show “3 Body Problem.” There’s no problem, however, with what a team of researchers say is likely a stable trio of icy space rocks in the solar […]
Posted March 4, 2025
Andromeda Galaxy
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Spiral Galaxies
Located 2.5 million light-years away, the majestic Andromeda galaxy appears to the naked eye as a faint, spindle-shaped object roughly the angular size of the full Moon. What backyard observers don’t see is a swarm of nearly three dozen small satellite galaxies circling the Andromeda galaxy, like bees around a hive.
Posted February 27, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Spiral Galaxies
Stars
Supernovae
The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is UGC 5460, which sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms, and bright blue star clusters.
Posted February 21, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
One of the ultimate goals in astrophysics is the discovery of Earth-like planets that are capable of hosting life. While thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, the vast majority of these detections have been made via indirect methods, that is, by detecting the effect of the planet on the star’s light, rather […]
Posted February 18, 2025
Goddard Space Flight Center
Astrophysics Division
Astrophysics Pioneers
Kennedy Space Center
Launch Services Office
Launch Services Program
Space Operations Mission Directorate
NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide the launch service for the agency’s Pandora mission, which will study at least 20 known exoplanets and their host stars to find out how changes in stars affect our observations of exoplanet atmospheres.
Posted February 10, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
The Universe
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a cosmic bullseye! The gargantuan galaxy LEDA 1313424 is rippling with nine star-filled rings after an “arrow” — a far smaller blue dwarf galaxy — shot through its heart.
Posted February 4, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Stars
Supernovae
The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is a supernova-hosting galaxy located about 600 million light-years away in the constellation Gemini. Hubble captured this image roughly two months after a supernova named SN 2022aajn was discovered. The supernova is visible as a blue dot at the center of the image, brightening the hazy […]
Posted January 31, 2025
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer)
Astrophysics Division
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Kennedy Space Center
Launch Services Program
Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH)
Science Mission Directorate
NASA will host a news conference at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 31, to discuss a new telescope that will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. Agency experts will preview NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and […]
Posted January 27, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Nebulae
Protostars
Stars
The Universe
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image peers into the dusty recesses of the nearest massive star-forming region to Earth, the Orion Nebula (Messier 42, M42). Just 1,500 light-years away, the Orion Nebula is visible to the unaided eye below the three stars that form the ‘belt’ in the constellation Orion. The nebula is home to […]
Posted January 16, 2025
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