James Webb Space Telescope

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'These Are the First Hints' of an Inhabited Alien World
'These Are
the First Hints'
of an Inhabited
Alien World
in case you missed it
Apr 20, 2025 11:30 AM CDT

'These Are the First Hints' of an Inhabited Alien World

New analysis detects more life-producing molecules on K2-18b

(Newser) - Researchers peering into the cosmos with help from the James Webb Space Telescope say they've uncovered the strongest sign yet of extraterrestrial life. It comes from K2-18b, a planet with about 2.5 times the radius of Earth that resides in the constellation Leo, some 120 light-years away. The...

Near-Earth Asteroid Has Surprising Shape

2024 YR4 is more like a hockey puck than the more common potato shape

(Newser) - The asteroid that once had a small chance of striking Earth and now might slam into the moon resembles a spinning hockey puck, scientists said this week. A team of astronomers used the Gemini South Observatory in Chile to observe asteroid 2024 YR4 in multiple wavelengths as it zoomed away...

It's the Best View Yet of the 'Cosmic Tornado'

Webb Telescope captures stunning swirling galaxy in composite image

(Newser) - The Webb Space Telescope has captured a plume of gas and dust streaming from a star in the making, with a spiral galaxy as a stunning backdrop. The composite image makes it look as though the overflow of stellar material is the billowing contrail of a rocket on its way...

Sombrero Galaxy Might Need a New Name
Pair of Photos 20 Years Apart
Show a Big Galaxy Change
in case you missed it
Dec 7, 2024 6:00 AM CST

Pair of Photos 20 Years Apart Show a Big Galaxy Change

Photo by Webb Space Telescope shows Sombrero Galaxy looking less sombrero-ish than Hubble did

(Newser) - Late last month, NASA released its "Astronomy Picture of the Day" —actually a combo of two pictures, taken two decades apart. The first is a 20-year-old photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the so-called Sombrero Galaxy, a galaxy nearly 30 million light-years away whose oval brim...

NASA Spots a 'Super Jupiter'
NASA Spots
a 'Super Jupiter'
Jul 24, 2024 5:08 PM CDT

NASA Spots a 'Super Jupiter'

Planet takes more than a century to go around its star

(Newser) - A super Jupiter has been spotted around a neighboring star by the Webb Space Telescope—and it has a super orbit. As the AP reports, the planet is roughly the same diameter as Jupiter, but with six times the mass. Its atmosphere is also rich in hydrogen like Jupiter's....

Space Telescope Captures Galaxies 'Penguin' and 'the Egg'

Images mark the Webb telescope's second anniversary

(Newser) - The Webb Space Telescope has captured a pair of glowing, interacting galaxies, per the AP . The observatory operated by NASA and the European Space Agency photographed the two galaxies 326 million light-years away, surrounded by a blue haze of stars and gas. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. The...

It's a 'Pivotal Milestone' Courtesy of Webb Telescope

In a first, chemical composition of an exoplanet's clouds definitively identified

(Newser) - The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed details of an "absolutely hostile" planet where it rains, not water, but particles of silicate sand, which whip around at speeds of a couple of miles per second. The gas giant Wasp-107b, some 200 light years away in the Virgo constellation, is...

'Cosmic Beast' in Night Sky Blows Our Black Hole Away

Oldest black hole ever discovered formed just 470M years after the Big Bang

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the oldest black hole yet, a cosmic beast formed a mere 470 million years after the Big Bang. The findings, published Monday, confirm what until now were theories that supermassive black holes existed at the dawn of the universe, per the AP . NASA's James Webb Space...

Physics Says They Shouldn't Exist. Yet Here They Are
Webb Telescope Makes
'Baffling' Discovery
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 7, 2023 12:10 PM CDT

Webb Telescope Makes 'Baffling' Discovery

Scientists announce discovery of planet-sized objects unexplained by existing theories

(Newser) - The James Webb Space Telescope has shown us the most distant black holes known to exist , new exoplanets , possible planets in the making —and now, planet-sized objects previously unknown and unaccounted for by existing theories. Nearly 150 planet-like "Jupiter Mass Binary Objects," or JuMBOs—far too small...

Possible Sign of Life Detected 120 Light Years Away

Webb telescope makes intriguing find in atmosphere of planet K2-18b

(Newser) - A Hycean planet is a planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and oceans of liquid water—and NASA says the James Webb Space Telescope may have spotted an intriguing one 120 light years away. Researchers say they have detected carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18b,...

NASA Releases Stunning Image of Star Birth

Agency is celebrating a year of images from the James Webb Space Telescope

(Newser) - The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet: the dramatic close-up of dozens of stars at the moment of birth. NASA unveiled the latest snapshot Wednesday, revealing 50 baby stars in a cloud complex 390 light-years away. A light-year is nearly...

Webb Telescope Spots Farthest Black Hole Yet

Other discoveries closer to the Big Bang are under review

(Newser) - Astronomers have discovered the most distant black hole yet using the Webb Space Telescope, but the record isn't expected to last. The black hole is at the center of a galaxy dating to within a mere 570 million years of the Big Bang. That's 100 million years closer...

Webb Space Telescope Spots Its First Exoplanet

'With this telescope, rocky exoplanets are the new frontier'

(Newser) - The James Webb Space Telescope has made a hot new find: LHS 475 b, a rocky planet almost exactly the same size as Earth. The first exoplanet spotted by the telescope has 99% of our planet's diameter and is relatively close, 41 light years away in the Octans constellation,...

NASA Releases Stunning Images of 'Pillars of Creation'

James Webb Space Telescope captured star-forming region in vivid detail

(Newser) - Marvel's cosmic Silver Surfer would not seem out of place in the latest amazing images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The images show the Pillars of Creation, spires of interstellar gas and dust in an active star-forming region of the Eagle Nebula in the Serpens constellation, 6,500...

NASA Releases Staggering Photos of Neptune

Our most distant planet's rings are crisp

(Newser) - If you picture Neptune as a blue ring-less planet, new images released Wednesday from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are about to set you straight. The images show what CNN refers to as the planet's "crisp, narrow rings." As Heidi Hammel of the Webb project says,...

'We’ve Never Seen Jupiter Like This'

Webb telescope captures stunning images

(Newser) - The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all. Scientists released the shots of the solar system's biggest planet Monday. The James Webb Space Telescope took the photos in July, capturing unprecedented views of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and...

His 'Deep Space' Image Wasn't Quite What It Seemed

Physicist clarifies after posting joke image of chorizo

(Newser) - A French physicist who received thousands of likes on a tweeted photo he claimed was from the James Webb Space Telescope has admitted the photo actually showed a very detailed slice of chorizo sausage. Etienne Klein, a director at France's Atomic Energy Commission, apologized after claiming the image of...

NASA Releases More New Images From the Cosmos
NASA Releases More New
Images From the Cosmos
photos
Jul 12, 2022 12:14 PM CDT

NASA Releases More New Images From the Cosmos

Courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope

(Newser) - NASA on Tuesday unveiled a new batch of images from its new powerful space telescope, including a foamy blue and orange shot of a dying star. The first image from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope was released Monday at the White House —a jumble of distant galaxies...

Space Telescope Hit by 'Unavoidable Chance Event'

NASA says it's still performing above expectations after micrometeoroid strike

(Newser) - The massive mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope has been hit by what NASA calls an "unavoidable chance event"—a strike from a piece of space debris larger than they expected. NASA says one of the mirror's segments was hit by a micrometeoroid, which it defines...

Scientists Baffled by Neptune's Temperature Swings
Scientists Baffled by
Neptune's Temperature Swings
NEW STUDY
Apr 12, 2022 10:55 AM CDT

Scientists Baffled by Neptune's Temperature Swings

Temps should be 'slowly growing warmer, not colder' amid southern summer

(Newser) - Neptune's southern hemisphere has spent the last 17 years in its summer season, yet global temperatures have plummeted. It's a head-scratching finding that leaves astronomers with more questions than answers. "Since we have been observing Neptune during its early southern summer, we would expect temperatures to be...

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