James Webb Space Telescope

FOR a $10 billion instrument, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) spends a lot of its time staring at nothing. The shots of deep space this produces are remarkably beautiful, transforming an apparently empty sky…

  GLASS-z12, a very early galaxy viewed by the James Webb Space TelescopeNaidu et al, P. Oesch, T. Treu, GLASS-JWST, NASA/CSA/ESA/STScI Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to reveal…

The James Webb Space Telescope can capture detailed images of distant galaxiesJADES Collaboration A strange galaxy in the early universe lived fast and died young. It is the most distant “dead” galaxy, meaning it is…

The James Webb Space Telescope is the first instrument capable of detecting exomoons conclusivelyNASA Astronomers will have their best shot yet at finding exomoons – alien moons that orbit planets beyond the solar…

Researchers have tracked the development of supernova 1987A since the stellar explosion beganNASA/STScI/CfA/P.Challis Scientists have finally figured out what is at the centre of a nearby supernova. Supernova 1987A…

An illustration of exoplanet K2-18b based on scientific observationsNASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) A type of planet thought to be capable of supporting life may actually be covered in hot magma. The chemical…

An illustration of exoplanet K2-18b based on scientific observationsNASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) A type of planet thought to be capable of supporting life may actually be covered in hot magma. The chemical…

The James Webb Space Telescope captured 19 face-on spiral galaxiesNASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Lee (STScI), T. Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team, E. Wheatley (STScI) The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has released a…

The James Webb Space Telescope captured 19 face-on spiral galaxiesNASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Lee (STScI), T. Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team, E. Wheatley (STScI) The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has released a…

Scientists at MIT, the University of Birmingham, and elsewhere say that astronomers’ best chance of finding liquid water, and even life on other planets, is to look for the absence, rather than the presence, of a…

Right: Wolf-Rayet star WR 124 as glimpsed by JWSTNASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI and ERO Production Team The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has helped make 2023 a year of astonishing cosmic images. But the groundbreaking…

Uranus, showing all of its rings and nine of the planet’s 27 moonsNASA, ESA, CSA, STScI This amazing shot of Uranus, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), has given us our most complete view yet of the…

Possibly the smallest stars ever discoveredNASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Kevin Luhman (PSU), Catarina Alves de Oliveira (ESA) The border between what is a star and what is a planet is blurry, and new findings from the James…

A number of MIT affiliates featured prominently at the 43rd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards presented by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences — including a winner of the Emmy for…

Artist’s impression of fluffy planet WASP-107b and its parent starLUCA School of Arts, Belgium/ Klaas Verpoest (visuals), Johan Van Looveren (typography). Science: Achrène Dyrek (CEA and Université Paris Cité,…

The distant black hole is located in the UHZ-1 galaxyNASA/CXC/SAO; ESA/CSA/STScI Astronomers have found the most distant black hole ever confirmed, at more than 31 billion light years from Earth. This object and…

Artistic representation of how the Milky Way-like galaxy ceers-2112 would look from EarthLuca Costantin (CAB/CSIC-INTA) Astronomers have spotted the earliest barred spiral galaxy yet. It is the same type of galaxy as…

An extraordinary burst of high-energy light in the sky has pointed astronomers to a pair of metal-forging neutron stars 900 million light years from Earth. In a study appearing today in Nature, an international…

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of actively forming stars like this pair, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, as well as seeing stars from near the cosmic dawnSTScI Copyright: NASA, ESA, CSA/STScI We…

James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared image of the galaxy cluster El GordoNASA, ESA, CSA Galaxies in the early universe have fewer metals than expected. Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have…

An artist’s illustration of MakemakeNASA, ESA, and A. Parker Icy rocks in the outer solar system might have unexpected subsurface oceans. Eris and Makemake are both dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt – the ring of…

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s image of Herbig-Haro 211ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, Tom Ray This newborn star is blasting out a pair of extraordinary jets. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured this image of a…

MIT’s School of Science welcomes postdocs Malena Rice and Eva Scheller, recipients of the 2022 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. The announcement was made March 31 by the Heising-Simons Foundation. The 51 Pegasi b…

A star in a galaxy that is now more than 27 billion light years away may allow us to understand the very first stars after the big…

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is NASA’s successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The ambitious space observatory took off from the European Spaceport launch site near Kourou, in French Guiana, on 25 December 2021 on a European…

A crucial phase of mirror alignment has been completed for the James Webb Space Telescope, and the process resulted in the highest…

NASA engineers working to align the 18 hexagonal mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope have released its first pictures. One…