Yes, it’s technically only November. But that doesn’t mean astronomers can’t start getting in the spirit of the holiday season! They’re putting up the Christmas Tree early, thanks to a joint-present from NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes. The striking image, dubbed the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, combines visible light from Hubble and infrared…

While galaxies appear to be lonely wanderers in the vast universe, many in fact huddle closely in clusters, held together by their collective gravity. And sometimes, it would appear, they also munch on one another. In other words, larger galaxies in these pockets merge with and gobble  smaller ones to grow even bigger — our…

While it would seem that scientists and astronomers know an awful lot about the Universe, we are nowhere near knowing everything there is to know. Yet every one in a while, astronomers make a breakthrough in our understanding of the Universe, and our perception of how the Universe works is substantially shifted. Take for example…

image:  Panchromatic view of MACS0416, a galaxy cluster about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. The image was created by combining infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The resulting prismatic panorama of blues and reds give clues to the distances of the galaxies. view more  Credit:…

The Crab nebula, as seen in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope. This supernova remnant is more than 10 light-years across and glows with radiation from whirling particles trapped in the magnetic field of a pulsar at its center. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/T. Temim/Princeton University (CC by 4.0) Advertisement <div class="article-block article-text" data-behavior="newsletter_promo dfp_article_rendering" data-dfp-adword="Advertisement" data-newsletterpromo_article-text=" Sign…

Astronomers peering toward the outermost reaches of the Milky Way have found phosphorus, a critical element for life, where none was believed to exist (Nature, 2023, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06616-1). Using telescopes at the Arizona Radio Observatory and the Institute of Millimetric Radio Astronomy, a team from the University of Arizona (UA) detected signals emitted by electrons…

A panorama of colliding galaxy clusters glimmers in a new image, captured by the combined forces of the two most powerful space observatories ever created.Video above: Ring Nebula captured in never-before-seen detailThe cosmic phenomenon, called MACS0416, is 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. Eventually, the merging pair of giant clusters will combine to form an even…

The galaxy cluster Abell 2744, which lies in front of the galaxy containing the newly discovered black hole X-ray: NASA / CXC / SAO / Ákos Bogdán; Infrared: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI; Image Processing: NASA / CXC / SAO / L. Frattare & K. Arcand Using two space telescopes, scientists have spotted…

November 9, 2023 On Wednesday, Nov. 8, Columbus State University’s Coca-Cola Space Science Center launched a new exhibit to inspire aspiring young scientists to study aerospace flight and exploration principles. The exhibit, developed fully in-house by the center’s educational team, was made possible through support from Pratt & Whitney, a global leader in propulsion system…