Space telescopes as a research area encompass the scientific and technical study, design, deployment, and utilization of astronomical observatories operating above Earth’s atmosphere to access wide spectral ranges (e.g., ultraviolet, X-ray, gamma-ray, infrared) and achieve high-precision photometry, spectroscopy, and imaging. The field addresses orbital dynamics, thermal and structural stability, detector and optics optimization, contamination control, and data calibration pipelines. Research includes mission architecture, survey strategies, multi-messenger and time-domain coordination, and methodologies for extracting cosmological, stellar, and planetary parameters from space-based observations, as well as technology development for next-generation observatories and constellations.
To mark its third year of highly productive science, astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to scratch beyond the surface of the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive, local star-forming region.
Astronomy
Jul 10, 2025
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Imagine a space telescope with a mirror stretching 50 meters across! That's larger than the width of a U.K. soccer field and nearly eight times wider than the James Webb Space Telescope. Now imagine that this enormous mirror ...
Astronomy
Jul 10, 2025
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The question of how life began has captivated humanity for millennia. Now, a team of scientists are preparing to use NASA's upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) to test different theories about life's origins by studying ...
Astrobiology
Jul 10, 2025
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Recreating artificial solar eclipses in space could help astronomers decipher the inner workings of our sun much quicker than if they had to wait for the celestial show on Earth.
Astronomy
Jul 8, 2025
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a bright variable star, V 372 Orionis, and its companion in this festive image in this image released on Jan. 27, 2023. The pair lie in the Orion Nebula, a colossal region of star formation ...
Astronomy
Jul 8, 2025
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Astronomers have achieved a first in exoplanet hunting by using the Hubble Space Telescope images to investigate a mysterious event that could reveal the existence of a "rogue planet" drifting through space without a host ...
Astronomy
Jul 7, 2025
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NASA's newest astrophysics space telescope launched in March on a mission to create an all-sky map of the universe. Now settled into low-Earth orbit, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the universe, Epoch of Reionization, ...
Astronomy
Jul 3, 2025
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Since July 2022, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been unwaveringly focused on our universe. With its unprecedented power to detect and analyze otherwise invisible infrared light, Webb is making observations that were ...
Astronomy
Jul 2, 2025
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Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new super-Earth exoplanet that orbits a nearby M dwarf star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-1846 b, ...
A unique new material that shrinks when it is heated and expands when it is cooled could help enable the ultra-stable space telescopes that future NASA missions require to search for habitable worlds.
Space Exploration
Jul 1, 2025
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