Tag

Space Telescope

All articles tagged with #space telescope

space53 minutes ago•6 min saved

NASA's Trailblazer Gets a Name in the Sky with a New Exoplanet Hunter

NASA is launching the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Aug 30, 2026, from Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. The 300-megapixel infrared observatory has a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble and will survey about 2 billion galaxies to probe dark energy and dark matter while hunting around 100,000 exoplanets (including rogue planets) using a coronagraph to block starlight. It will operate at the Sun–Earth L2 point, stream more than a terabyte of data daily, and cost about $4.3 billion for a five-year mission, continuing NASA’s legacy of space-based astronomy named after its pioneering leader Nancy Grace Roman.

via ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos|

#dark-energy #exoplanets #nancy-grace-roman

science4 days ago•2 min saved

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: Named for a Pioneer, Not Nancy Grace the TV Host

Fox Business host Ashley Webster misidentified NASA's upcoming telescope as being named after Nancy Grace, but the mission honors Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer and 'mother' of the Hubble Space Telescope. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, completed in 2025 and set to launch Aug 30, will survey about 1 billion galaxies and help uncover roughly 200,000 exoplanets, with an observation range at least 100 times larger than Hubble's; the name survived funding cuts during the Trump era after Congressional intervention.

via Gizmodo|

#hubble-space-telescope #nancy-grace #nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope

innovation25 days ago•10 min saved

Memory-centric SRAM chips cut space telescope power 59x and lighten satellites

A University of Michigan team designed memory-centric SRAM architectures for future space telescopes, cutting computing power from about 3,000 watts to 51 watts (roughly 59× less) and reducing spacecraft mass from about 2,425 pounds to 425 pounds by co-locating memory and processing to minimize data movement; the design could lower mission costs (about $430 million savings over 25 years) and is moving from simulation to lab testing with chiplet fabrication planned next.

via Interesting Engineering|

#habitable-worlds-observatory #innovation #memory-centric-computing

space1 month ago•10 min saved

Webb Telescope Turns Time Machine, Revealing Galaxies Moments After the Big Bang

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope uses its larger 6.5-meter mirror and infrared vision to peer back to the universe’s earliest epochs, capturing galaxies formed within a few hundred million years after the Big Bang and pushing the record beyond Hubble’s reach (e.g., MoM-z14 at ~13.5 billion years ago). Webb reveals a cosmic dawn that is brighter and more chemically evolved than pre‑Webb models predicted, with some galaxies seen just 50–300 million years after the Big Bang—reminding us that each image is both a snapshot of the present instrument and a window into a long-ago cosmos that has since evolved.

via spacedaily.com|

#cosmic-dawn #early-galaxies #infrared-astronomy

space1 month ago•105 min saved

Faintest-Ever Exoplanet Unmasked: Beta Pictoris d Revealed from Earth

After more than a decade of archival data, astronomers directly imaged Beta Pictoris d, a roughly 2.4 Jupiter-mass gas giant about 63 light-years away, making it the faintest exoplanet ever seen directly from Earth and helping explain the star system’s debris disk; the find places Beta Pictoris among the few multi-planet systems detectable via direct imaging and may be followed up by the ELT.

via Space|

#astronomy #beta-pictoris #direct-imaging

space2 months ago•13 min saved

Tiny Sky Patch Reveals a Universe of Galaxies, Thanks to Hubble

In December 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope spent ten days staring at a tiny, seemingly empty patch near the Big Dipper to avoid foreground clutter. The resulting Hubble Deep Field exposed about 3,000 galaxies in that minute patch, turning emptiness into a crowded view of the cosmos and shaping our understanding of galaxy formation and the scale of the universe.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #cosmology #galaxies

space2 months ago•6 min saved

NASA seeks 50 digital creators to cover Roman Space Telescope launch

NASA is inviting digital creators to apply for a two‑day NASA Social at Kennedy Space Center to cover the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch on Aug. 30, 2026, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Up to 50 attendees will gain media‑style access; registration runs June 15–28 with selections announced in July. Applicants must be active social media content creators; attendees cover their own travel and accommodations and must meet REAL ID or passport entry requirements. If not selected, you can follow online or watch the livestream; NASA will update registrants if the launch date changes.

via NASA (.gov)|

#launch #nasa #nasa-social

space4 months ago•2 min saved

Vantor Satellite Captures Ultra-Close Portrait of Hubble on 36th Birthday

A Vantor WorldView Legion satellite photographed the Hubble Space Telescope from about 61.8 km away on April 23, 2026, capturing a rare close-up view that shows Hubble's cylindrical body, thermal shielding, solar arrays, and the open front aperture, as the telescope marks its 36th birthday and continues to inspire in an era of newer observatories like the Roman Space Telescope.

via PetaPixel|

#hubble-space-telescope #satellite-imaging #space

space4 months ago•3 min saved

NASA's Roman Space Telescope Finishes Construction Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget

NASA has completed construction of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, finishing ahead of schedule and under budget, with a September launch aboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy to the L2 point. The telescope features a 7.9-foot primary mirror, a 300-megapixel Wide Field Instrument, and a Roman Coronagraph for exoplanet imaging; it will survey the sky 1,000x faster, observe 200x more of the sky per image, and process data 2,000x faster than Hubble, potentially discovering billions of galaxies and tens of billions of stars while expanding infrared astronomy and exoplanet discovery.

via Jalopnik|

#exoplanets #l2-orbit #nasa

space4 months ago•18 min saved

NASA targets September 2026 launch for the Roman Space Telescope

NASA aims to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in September 2026 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a wide-field observatory with a 300.8‑megapixel camera and a coronagraph to spot exoplanets and study dark energy; it will survey the sky about 100x larger than Hubble, operate from roughly 1 million miles from Earth, and work in concert with JWST and Chandra, with a latest possible launch date of May 2027.

via Engadget|

#dark-energy #exoplanets #nasa

space4 months ago•79 min saved

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope: A Wide‑Field Eye Poised to Unveil the Cosmos

NASA has completed the final integration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a next‑generation observatory designed to image vast swaths of the sky much faster than Hubble. With a 2.4‑meter mirror, a 300‑megapixel Wide Field Instrument and a coronagraph, Roman will survey areas hundreds of times larger, deliver hundreds of terabytes of data per year, and help illuminate dark matter and dark energy while enabling direct imaging of exoplanets. It is scheduled to launch on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to the L2 point in September 2026, eight months ahead of schedule and under budget, joining JWST, Euclid, and Hubble as a major tool for cosmic exploration.

via Space|

#dark-matter-dark-energy #nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope #nasa

space5 months ago•3 min saved

NASA unveils fully assembled Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, eyeing fall 2026 launch

NASA has completed assembly and prelaunch testing of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, with a launch window potentially as early as fall 2026 and a target launch by May 2027. A media briefing and on-site opportunities at NASA Goddard on April 21 will showcase the fully integrated telescope, its advanced imaging capabilities, and the collaboration with international partners before it moves to Kennedy Space Center for launch.

via NASA (.gov)|

#launch-window #media-briefing #nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope

science5 months ago•18 min saved

Hubble at 36: How a blurry launch reshaped our view of the cosmos

The Hubble Space Telescope marks 36 years in orbit, overcoming an early blurry image issue with five servicing missions, and accumulating nearly 1.7 million observations that spurred more than 22,000 papers and 1.3 million citations. Its Deep Field images helped redefine cosmic age, expansion, dark energy, exoplanet atmospheres, and the presence of supermassive black holes, while inspiring a generation and guiding future observatories like the Habitable Worlds Observatory. Hubble’s enduring, serviceable design and public imagery have made it a lasting scientific and cultural icon, with a legacy that continues as it works alongside the James Webb Space Telescope and beyond.

via Earth.com|

#astronomy #deep-field #hubble

science5 months ago•2 min saved

Moon remains safe as 2024 YR4 will miss the Moon by over 20,000 km

New measurements with powerful telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope, show asteroid 2024 YR4 will safely pass the Moon at more than 20,000 km away, ruling out Earth or Moon collision risks and highlighting the value of ongoing near-Earth object tracking for planetary defense.

via The Guardian|

#asteroid #moon #near-earth-object

astronomy7 months ago•44 min saved

China's Xuntian CSST set to map the cosmos with Hubble-scale sky coverage by 2027

China is advancing the CSST/Xuntian space telescope, a bus-sized observatory with a 2-meter primary mirror and a 2.5-billion-pixel camera designed to survey the sky from near-UV to near-IR with a field of view about 300 times larger than Hubble. Slated for launch in early 2027, it will operate in low Earth orbit co‑orbiting with the Tiangong space station and can be serviced by astronauts. An end-to-end simulation study published ahead of launch highlights potential science across cosmology, galaxies, the Milky Way, and planetary systems, including insights into dark matter and dark energy.

via Space|

#astronomy #china #csst