Hubble Space Telescope

Science

'Are We Alone?' Churchill Concludes It's Likely Life Circles Other Suns

7:54am February 18, 2017

by Scott Simon

In an essay written in 1939, Winston Churchill pondered the possibility that there might be life elsewhere in the universe. The document was recently rediscovered in a museum in Fulton, Mo.

Some Assembly Required: New Space Telescope Will Take Shape After Launch

12:13pm November 28, 2016

by Joe Palca

The James Webb Space Telescope is undergoing its final series of tests in NASA workshops. It's designed to take even grander images than the Hubble telescope. But deploying it will be a major feat.

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This image shows a portion of the sky used to recalculate the total number of galaxies in the observable universe.

The Universe Has Almost 10 Times More Galaxies Than We Thought

6:11pm October 14, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

A new study finds there are about 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe, up from about 200 billion. It's the first major revision to that number since the 1990s.

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the central region of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The R136 star cluster — the blue stars in the lower right — contains massive stars, including nine newly-identified stars more t

Hubble Space Telescope Pinpoints 'Monster' Stars

9:25am March 19, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Scientists combined images from a camera with ultraviolet light measurements from a spectrograph to identify nine stars more than 100 times as massive as the sun.

This new image from the largest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter, was made during the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.

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New Hubble Images Show Jupiter's Great Red Spot Is Still Shrinking

1:44pm October 14, 2015

by Eyder Peralta

But, using images from the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have learned the great storm is putting up a fight because it is now shrinking at a slower rate.

New details of Pluto's largest moon, Charon, are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager.

Strange Worlds At The Edge Of Our Solar System Finally Come Into Focus

4:22pm July 15, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has beamed back its best photos of Pluto and its moons. Scientists will puzzle over them for years to come.

Computer modeling illustrations of Pluto's moon Nix demonstrate that its orientation changes unpredictably as it orbits the "double planet" of Pluto and Charon.

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Pluto's Moons Are 'Tumbling In Absolute Chaos,' NASA Says

9:19am June 04, 2015

by Bill Chappell

In the NFL, something that behaves like Pluto's football-shaped moons might be called a wobbly duck. NASA calls them astonishing.

The Hooker 100-inch reflecting telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory, just outside Los Angeles. Edwin Hubble's chair, on an elevating platform, is visible at left. A view from this scope first told Hubble our galaxy isn't the only one.

Hubble's Other Telescope And The Day It Rocked Our World

12:36pm April 25, 2015

by Joe Palca

Amid this week's hoopla celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope, don't forget the clever astronomer for whom the space scope was named. In the 1920s, he changed our sense of ourselves and the universe.

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(Left) This is one of two cameras that the telescope originally carried, and it has since been replaced with a more up-to-date version. (Right) Workers study Hubble's 8-foot main mirror. After launch the mirror was found to have a problem, which astronaut

After 25 Years, The Hubble Space Telescope Still Wows Humanity

4:26pm April 24, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

Launched shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Hubble telescope isn't showing its age. Astronomers and other fans hope this old charmer will be useful for many years to come.

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The moon Ganymede (right) orbits the giant planet Jupiter in this artist's rendering. Scientists say a saline ocean lurks under the moon's icy crust.

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Moon River? No, It's An Ocean On One Of Jupiter's Moons!

4:41pm March 12, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists announced in a NASA teleconference that the biggest moon in our solar system has a salty ocean hidden below its icy surface.