When it comes to hunting for the explosive deaths of massive stars in the early universe, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is quite the cosmic detective. This celestial Sherlock Holmes has found evidence of 80 new early supernovas in a patch of sky as wide as a grain of rice held at arm’s length. […]
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has observed evidence pointing to asteroids colliding in a neighboring star system. Resultant dust kicked up by the collision has a mass equal to around 100,000 times that of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. The asteroids were seen smashing together in Beta Pictoris, a star system located about […]
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. The Hubble Space Telescope will transition to a new way of operating that aims to prevent the space observatory from experiencing lapses in its ability to observe the universe, according to NASA officials. The storied telescope, […]
It’s been 34 years since the Hubble Space Telescope launched into the harsh and unforgiving environment of Earth orbit. It’s sitting about 320 miles (515 kilometers) above our planet right now, exposed to solar radiation, freezing temperatures and micrometeoroid impacts while delivering breathtaking and textbook-altering images of the universe to us. Thirty-four years under that […]
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the richest “menu” of hydrocarbons ever seen in a planet-forming disk. This observation, which involved the protoplanetary disk around a tiny star, also revealed the first detection of ethane outside the solar system. The discovery was made when the Mid-Infrared instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb […]
Using a telescope perched on a mountain in Arizona, scientists have managed to take snapshots of Jupiter’s active moon Io — and these images are so detailed they even rival pictures of the world taken from space. To capture these views, the team used a camera, dubbed SHARK-VIS, that was recently installed on the Large […]
HONOLULU — Local officials on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Wednesday voted to oppose a U.S. military proposal to build new telescopes on the summit of Haleakala volcano, the latest observatory project to meet objection in the islands. The U.S. Space Force and Air Force want to build a new facility on the top […]
For the first time, a telescope on the Hawaiian volcano Maunakea has been fully decommissioned — it was dismantled, removed, and its site was restored to previous conditions. The effort comes under an agreement between the University of Hawaii and the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, designed to smooth tensions over the construction of a […]
The Hubble Space Telescope continues to show signs of its advanced age. Late last month, the iconic observatory went into a protective “safe mode” after detecting anomalous readings from a gyroscope, a device that helps mission team members point Hubble toward its cosmic targets. NASA officials announced today (June 4) that the misbehaving hardware is […]
Trouble with one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s three remaining gyroscopes, critical for aiming and locking onto targets, has prompted mission managers to switch to a backup control mode that will limit some observations, but keep the iconic observatory running well into the 2030s, officials said Tuesday . “We still believe there’s very high reliability […]
The Hubble Space Telescope has temporarily stopped observing the cosmos. Nasa said the telescope slipped into a hibernating state more than a week ago, when one of its three remaining gyroscopes, part of the pointing system, malfunctioned. The same device has been acting up for months and disrupting scientific operations. Hubble remains safe but inactive as flight […]
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Hubble Space Telescope has temporarily stopped observing the cosmos. NASA said the telescope slipped into a hibernating state more than a week ago when one of its three remaining gyroscopes — part of the pointing system — malfunctioned. The same device has been acting up for months and disrupting […]