Latest news with #HubbleTelescope
Time of India
6 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Glowing streaks of light and warped arcs: Nasa gives glimpse at ‘distant past' through new Webb picture
Galaxy cluster Abell S1063 (Nasa) As part of the 'picture of the month' series, Nasa has revealed a new image taken by the James Webb telescope that gives a look into the distant past. This picture of the galaxy cluster Abell S1063 is a gigantic collection of galaxies lying 4.5 billion light years from Earth as part of the constellation Grus, also known as the Crane. The picture showcases galaxies surrounded by glowing streaks of light and warped arcs, which are of particular interest to scientists, as they represent faint galaxies from the distant past of this universe. Captured after 120 hours of observation, this image represents Webb's deepest look at a single celestial target. This image is a deep field image , capable of capturing pictures of galaxies that have existed as early as 200 million years after the Big Bang. Deep field technology comprises of long exposure photography, focusing on a singular area in the sky, capable of collecting as much light as possible to draw out images of the most distant and faraway galaxies. The Abell cluster was initially observed by the Nasa/ESA Hubble Telescope, a strong gravitational lens, with an aim to use the cluster's image to study the early Universe . by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Upon studying, the image reveals a plethora of lensing arcs around the Abell S1063, providing a peek at previously unseen features and a multitude of faint galaxies. This observation is part of the GLIMPSE programme, which has a mission to study a period called the ' Cosmic Dawn ' when the universe was only a few million years old. Studying images captured through gravitational lensing has the power to enrich our understanding of the universe and the emergence of the very first galaxies.
India Today
21-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
10 never-before-seen Hubble Telescope images from deep space
10 never-before-seen Hubble Telescope images from deep space 21 May, 2025 Credit: ESA The stately and inclined spiral galaxy NGC 3511 is located 43 million light-years away in the constellation Crater (The Cup). A spiral so inclined A sparkling cloudscape from one of the Milky Way's galactic neighbours, a dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Candyfloss clouds This galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). A peculiar spiral M72 is a collection of stars, formally known as a globular cluster, located in the constellation Aquarius roughly 50 000 light years from Earth. A glittering cluster This is a planetary nebula named Kohoutek 4-55, a member of the Milky Way galaxy situated just 4600 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan). Swan song for stars Say hello to one of the Milky Way's neighbours!. It features a scene from one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The SMC is a dwarf galaxy located about 200 000 light-years away. Colourful clouds The narrow galaxy elegantly curving around its spherical companion in this image is a fantastic example of a truly strange and very rare phenomenon. Rings of Relativity This latest image of Jupiter, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on 25 August 2020, was captured when the planet was 653 million kilometres from Earth. Jupiter and Great Red Spot The Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, is an emission nebula located 8 000 light-years away. The Bubble Nebula The star-forming region NGC 3603 - seen here in the latest Hubble Space Telescope image - contains one of the most impressive massive young star clusters in the Milky Way. Extreme star cluster
Gulf Today
30-04-2025
- Science
- Gulf Today
Welcome home
It appears that the Trump government is considering cutting NASA's science budget in half for 2026. This will stop a number of projects including possibly the Goddard Space Flight Center. Support for the Hubble Telescope will continue until it falls apart but then no more telescope launches. One possible reason for the cutback might be that the search for alien life will succeed and we discover that rather than being small and green, they are large and orange and want their lost child back. On a more serious note, any cutbacks to science funding should be condemned given the developments with people losing faith in science and the rise of pseudo-science. The appointment of Robert Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, to leading America's health departments does not provide confidence in their support of real science. Perhaps the space programmes could be taken over by SpaceX, owned substantially by Elon Musk, President Trump's money saver. The SpaceX rockets however do explode from time to time which is worrying. Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia
CBS News
28-04-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Chicago astronomist, professor named one of Time Magazine's Most Influential People of 2025
Alongside Snoop Dogg and Demi Moore, a Chicago professor and astronomist was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Influential People of 2025. Wendy Freedman is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Time recognizes her research in observational cosmology, or the study of direct observations, using instruments like telescopes, to examine evidence of the universe's development and structure. Freedman and her team created a new Hubble Constant, a unit of measurement used to describe how fast the universe is expanding. It is considered one of the most critical numbers in cosmology because it can determine the universe's age and could even reveal potential new physics. Her work has been recognized within the science community, but this is her first "public" recognition. "It was a complete surprise when I learned about it. I am honored to be on this list," she said. "I feel very grateful to the University of Chicago for giving me the opportunity to study what I do and all the people and my teams over the years that have made this possible. It's not a solitary endeavor," Freedman said. The concept of the Hubble Constant originated from a Belgian physicist in 1927, and then Edwin Hubble provided the first observational evidence of it. Since then, NASA has recognized four women, including Freedman, behind the Hubble Space Telescope's achievements. "This measurement was one of the primary justifications for building a space telescope," according to NASA. The Hubble Space Telescope Key Project is the name of the international team she co-led to refine the Hubble Constant. April 24th marked 35 years of the Hubble Telescope in space. NASA celebrated the milestone by releasing photos of galaxies and planets. Freedman's observations are among the 1.6 billion observations made by the Hubble. Freedman was also the first woman to join the Carnegie Observatories as a permanent scientific staff member. She began her work there initially as a postdoctoral fellow. She also helped launch the Giant Magellan Telescope Project and served as the chair of the board of directors for over a decade. Planetary Nebula NGC 2899, Hubble Telescope NASA Being a woman scientist in the middle of a significant debate in cosmology does not come without controversy. "What people had been arguing about was whether the Hubble constant was 50 or 100, and we were able to make that measurement with 10% accuracy, which, for the time…was a huge step forward," she said. She said controversy can be good because it keeps scientists accountable. "Science is a field that self-corrects. You get better measurements that supersede the older ones. That's one of the reasons why I love science," she said. So, what's next? "As you make more and more accurate measurements, you unearth other kinds of things that could be causing a difference. So that's where we're actively involved now, and that is another controversy. We're trying to understand how exciting this is, because it would be very exciting if it were something new and fundamental about the universe that we didn't understand before," she said. The list is divided into six categories: innovators, titans, artists, icons, leaders, and pioneers. "We have artists, musicians, scientists, and writers. Human capacity for doing things is really very vast. I think it's nice that all of those kinds of things get recognized because it's who we are," Freedman said. Some other people on the list are Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who survived years of sexual assault by her husband and over 50 men, whose case took the world by storm, as well as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, and Robert Montgomery, who "revolutionized organ transplantation, expanding access and improving outcomes for patients worldwide." There are also controversial people on this list, including six members of the Trump Administration, including President Trump. "TIME's founders knew that focusing on the individuals who are transforming the world is the best way to help readers understand it," Sam Jacobs, Editor-In-Chief of Time, wrote in the explainer of how Time chooses the 100 people. "
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Uranus passed between Earth and a distant star this month — and NASA caught the rare event
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. NASA researchers got a rare chance to study Uranus' atmosphere and rings this month, when the ice giant passed between Earth and a distant star, creating a "stellar occultation." This rare event lasted about an hour on April 7 and was only visible from western North America. The last time a bright stellar occultation of Uranus occurred was 1996, so NASA came prepared. An international team of more than 30 astronomers, led by planetary scientists at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, used 18 observatories to gather data. "This was the first time we have collaborated on this scale for an occultation," William Saunders, a planetary scientist at Langley, said in a statement. "I am extremely grateful to each member of the team and each observatory for taking part in this extraordinary event," Saunders added. "By observing the occultation from many large telescopes, we are able to measure the light curve and determine Uranus' atmospheric properties at many altitude layers." Related: Uranus: Everything you need to know about the coldest planet in the solar system For example, the scientists measured the temperatures and composition of Uranus' stratosphere, the middle layer of its atmosphere. They were able to see how the stratosphere has changed since 1996, when NASA got a snapshot of Uranus' atmosphere during the last significant stellar occultation. The data NASA just collected "could help enable future Uranus exploration efforts," agency officials said in the statement. Uranus, which is currently about 2 billion miles (3.2 billion kilometers) from Earth, does not have a solid surface. Instead, the planet has a soft surface that's a mixture of water, ammonia and methane. Researchers call Uranus an ice giant because its interior consists largely of these fluids, all of which have low freezing points. The planet's atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium. Related Stories: — Changing seasons on Uranus tracked across 20 years by Hubble Space Telescope — What is an occultation? — A day on Uranus is actually longer than we thought, Hubble Telescope reveals "The atmospheres of the gas and ice giant planets [Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune] are exceptional atmospheric laboratories because they don't have solid surfaces," Emma Dahl, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology who assisted in gathering observations from NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, said in the same statement. "This allows us to study cloud formation, storms and wind patterns without the extra variables and effects a surface produces, which can complicate simulations very quickly," she added. NASA says Uranus will occult several dimmer stars over the next six years. The next significant Uranus occultation, which will involve a star even brighter than the one blocked out this month, will come in 2031.
