Astrophysics

Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
Astrophysics observations at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths often probe the most dynamic aspects of the universe. However, the high energy of ultraviolet photons means that their interaction with the materials that make up an observing instrument are less efficient, resulting in low overall throughput.
Posted March 18, 2025
Astrophysics
Exoplanets
Gas Giant Exoplanets
Goddard Space Flight Center
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Science & Research
The Universe
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured direct images of multiple gas giant planets within an iconic planetary system. HR 8799, a young system 130 light-years away, has long been a key target for planet formation studies. The observations indicate that the well-studied planets of HR 8799 are rich in carbon dioxide gas. This provides […]
Posted March 17, 2025
Scientific Balloons
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Goddard Space Flight Center
Wallops Flight Facility
NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has returned to Wānaka, New Zealand, for two scheduled flights to test and qualify the agency’s super pressure balloon technology.
Posted March 14, 2025
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer)
Astrophysics
Heliophysics
Launch Services Program
Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH)
Science Mission Directorate
NASA’s newest astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx, is on its way to study the origins of our universe and the history of galaxies, and to search for the ingredients of life in our galaxy. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx lifted off at 8:10 p.m. PDT on […]
Posted March 12, 2025
Astrophysics
Exoplanets
Studying Exoplanets
Super-Earth Exoplanets
Uncategorized
The Discovery A possible “super-Earth” orbits a relatively close, Sun-like star, and could be a habitable world – but one of extreme temperature swings, from scorching heat to deep freeze. Key Facts The newly confirmed planet is the outermost of three detected so far around a star called HD 20794, just 20 light-years from Earth. […]
Posted March 11, 2025
Astrophysics
Brown Dwarfs
Goddard Space Flight Center
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Science & Research
Star-forming Nebulae
The Universe
The Flame Nebula, located about 1,400 light-years away from Earth, is a hotbed of star formation less than 1 million years old. Within the Flame Nebula, there are objects so small that their cores will never be able to fuse hydrogen like full-fledged stars—brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs, often called “failed stars,” over time become very […]
Posted March 10, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Elliptical Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Interacting Galaxies
Spiral Galaxies
The Universe
Arp 105 is a dazzling ongoing merger between an elliptical galaxy and a spiral galaxy drawn together by gravity, characterized by a long, drawn out tidal tail of stars and gas more than 362,000 light-years long. The immense tail, which extends beyond this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, was pulled from the two galaxies […]
Posted March 8, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Emission Nebulae
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Nebulae
Star-forming Nebulae
The Universe
A tiny fraction of the stellar nursery known as Sh2-284 is visible in this glittering, star-filled NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. This immense region of gas and dust is the birthing place of stars, which shine among the clouds. Bright clusters of newborn stars glow pink in infrared light, and clouds of gas and dust, […]
Posted March 8, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Magellanic Clouds
Star Clusters
Stars
The Universe
An open cluster of stars shines through misty, cocoon-like gas clouds in this Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 460. NGC 460 is located in a region of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. This particular region contains a number of young star clusters and nebulae of different sizes […]
Posted March 8, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Spiral Galaxies
The Universe
Sweeping spiral arms extend from NGC 4536, littered with bright blue clusters of star formation and red clumps of hydrogen gas shining among dark lanes of dust. The galaxy’s shape may seem a little unusual, and that’s because it’s what’s known as an “intermediate galaxy”: not quite a barred spiral, but not exactly an unbarred […]
Posted March 8, 2025
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