Astrophysics

Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Stars
In 1936, astronomers saw a puzzling event in the constellation Orion: the young star FU Orionis (FU Ori) became a hundred times brighter in a matter of months. At its peak, FU Ori was intrinsically 100 times brighter than our Sun. Unlike an exploding star though, it has declined in luminosity only languidly since then. […]
Posted November 21, 2024
Astrophysics
Gamma-Ray Bursts
Goddard Space Flight Center
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory
The Universe
After two decades in space, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever thanks to a new operational strategy implemented earlier this year. The spacecraft has made great scientific strides in the years since scientists dreamed up a new way to explore gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.
Posted November 20, 2024
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Hubble Space Telescope
Spiral Galaxies
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image depicts the cosmic tangle that is MCG+05-31-045, a pair of interacting galaxies located 390 million light-years away and a part of the Coma galaxy cluster. The Coma Cluster is a particularly rich cluster that contains over a thousand known galaxies.
Posted November 15, 2024
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Hubble Space Telescope
Irregular Galaxies
Spiral Galaxies
The Milky Way
A story of survival is unfolding at the outer reaches of our galaxy, and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is witnessing the saga. The Large Magellanic Cloud, also called the LMC, is one of the Milky Way galaxy’s nearest neighbors. This dwarf galaxy looms large on the southern nighttime sky at 20 times the apparent diameter […]
Posted November 14, 2024
Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Astrophysics
Black Holes
Goddard Space Flight Center
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Marshall Astrophysics
Marshall Space Flight Center
The Universe
A rapidly feeding black hole at the center of a dwarf galaxy in the early universe, shown in this artist’s concept, may hold important clues to the evolution of supermassive black holes in general.
Posted November 13, 2024
Astrophysics
Black Holes
Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes
Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research
Goddard Space Flight Center
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory
Science & Research
Supermassive Black Holes
The Universe
Scientists using observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory have discovered, for the first time, the signal from a pair of monster black holes disrupting a cloud of gas in the center of a galaxy. “It’s a very weird event, called AT 2021hdr, that keeps recurring every few months,” said Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at […]
Posted November 13, 2024
Astrophysics
Citizen Science
NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft re-entered and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on Friday night, as expected. Launched in 2009 as the WISE mission, the spacecraft has been mapping the entire sky at infrared wavelengths over and over for nearly fifteen years.
Posted November 4, 2024
Astrophysics
Biological & Physical Sciences
Citizen Science
Earth Science
Heliophysics
Planetary Science
In August, the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences (AAPS) announced a fellowship opportunity in partnership with the NASA Citizen Science Leaders Series. Fifty-five people applied!
Posted November 4, 2024
Astrophysics
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Stars
In the 1997 movie “Contact,” adapted from Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Arroway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star Vega. She emerges inside a snowstorm of debris encircling the star — but no obvious planets are visible. It looks like the filmmakers got it […]
Posted November 1, 2024
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer)
Astrophysics
Galaxies
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Search for Life
The Universe
The space telescope will detect over 100 colors from hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies. Here’s what astronomers will do with all that color. NASA’s SPHEREx mission won’t be the first space telescope to observe hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies when it launches no later than April 2025, but it will be […]
Posted October 31, 2024
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