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.
Two heads are better than one in the latest images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which reveal new detail in a mysterious, little-studied nebula surrounding a dying star. Nebula PMR 1 is a cloud of gas and dust that ...
Astronomy
Feb 25, 2026
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If you've been following exoplanet research over the last couple of years, you've definitely heard of K2-18b. Located 124 light years away in the constellation Leo, it's attracted a lot of attention as it sits squarely in ...
Astrobiology
Feb 24, 2026
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174
More and more papers are coming out about the upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). As the telescope moves from theory to practice (and physical manifestation), various working groups are discovering, defining, and ...
Astrobiology
Feb 23, 2026
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44
The atmospheres of exoplanets have been a focal point of the field lately, with the James Webb Space Telescope taking a look at as many as it can manage. But time on the world's most powerful space telescope is valuable, ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 15, 2026
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60
Astronomers want to collect as much data as possible using as many systems as possible. Sometimes that requires coordination between instruments. The teams that run the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the upcoming Atmospheric ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 15, 2026
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24
NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) was built for the ambitious purpose of performing an all-sky survey. The data it collects from more than 450 million ...
Astronomy
Feb 11, 2026
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43
Sending a mission to the solar gravitational lens (SGL) is the most effective way of actually directly imaging a potentially habitable planet, as well as its atmosphere, and even possibly some of its cities. But, the SGL ...
Space Exploration
Feb 11, 2026
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66
On July 2, 2025, the China-led Einstein Probe (EP) space telescope detected an exceptionally bright X-ray source whose brightness varied rapidly during a routine sky survey. Its unusual signal immediately set it apart from ...
Astronomy
Feb 10, 2026
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204
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was designed to look back in time and study galaxies that existed shortly after the Big Bang. In so doing, scientists hoped to gain a better understanding of how the universe has evolved ...
Astronomy
Feb 8, 2026
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921
A newly discovered comet has astronomers excited, with the potential to be a spectacular sight in early April. C/2026 A1 (MAPS) was spotted by a team of four amateur astronomers with a remotely operated telescope in the Atacama ...
Astronomy
Feb 5, 2026
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