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.
Expected to launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA's SPHEREx space observatory will provide astronomers with a big-picture view of the cosmos like never before.
Astronomy
Feb 3, 2025
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The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is a supernova-hosting galaxy located about 600 million light-years away in the constellation Gemini. Hubble captured this image roughly two months after a supernova ...
Astronomy
Feb 3, 2025
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Kepler was one of the most successful exoplanet-hunting missions so far. It discovered 2,600 confirmed exoplanets—almost half of the total—in its almost 10 years of operation. However, most data analysis focused only on one ...
Astronomy
Jan 27, 2025
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a dusty yet sparkling scene from one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 ...
Astronomy
Jan 27, 2025
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Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered two sub-Neptune exoplanets orbiting a subgiant star known as TOI-6054. The newfound alien worlds are nearly three ...
From Jan. 11 to 15, 2025, a bright comet surged through images from the ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft. Called C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), the comet made its closest pass ...
Astronomy
Jan 22, 2025
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This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released on Nov. 3, 2023, in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the sun ...
Astronomy
Jan 17, 2025
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image peers into the dusty recesses of the nearest massive star-forming region to Earth, the Orion Nebula (Messier 42, M42). Just 1,500 light-years away, the Orion Nebula is visible to ...
Astronomy
Jan 17, 2025
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For decades, scientists have tried in vain to accurately predict solar flares—intense bursts of light on the sun that can send a flurry of charged particles into the solar system. Now, using NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, ...
Astronomy
Jan 15, 2025
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The European Space Agency's Milky Way-mapper Gaia has completed the sky-scanning phase of its mission, racking up more than 3 trillion observations of about 2 billion stars and other objects over the last decade to revolutionize ...
Astronomy
Jan 15, 2025
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