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AURA Astronomy
@aura-astronomy.bsky.social
350 followers 44 following 15 posts
AURA is a leading organization in developing and operating world-class facilities to deliver forefront #astronomy #science #telescope #astrophysics #NASA #NSF
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Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
NEWS: Researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to refine the orbit of two Wolf-Rayet stars—named for the Egyptian god of chaos—to a lengthy 190 years and confirmed a third star carves their ongoing carbon dust ejections. 🔭 🧪 (1/6) 🧵
Four dust shells expand away from three central stars that appear as a single pinpoint of light. The innermost shell is smallest, like the size of a thumbprint, and brightest. It is yellow and forms a backward lowercase e. A line at 3 o’clock swoops to the bottom-left in an arc that ends at 8 o’clock. A second line at 9 o’clock dips down to start, but then goes straight up, angling around the top. The second shell, about the size of a fist, is orange and has looser arcs. One appears from 4 to 7 o’clock. A brighter orange triangle appears from 10 to 12 o’clock. Its outer edges overlap, forming a rough circle. The third shell extends almost to the edges and is semi-translucent red, with similar arcs and a darker red line that also forms a faint triangle at top left. The widest shell is faintest and at the edges. A semi-transparent blue appears across the scene. A larger foreground star with spikes is at bottom left, and more distant stars and galaxies are strewn across the black expanse of space.
November 19, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
usngo.bsky.social
From @noirlabastro.bsky.social: And here it is… your favorite Image of the Week of 2025! This wonderful Gemini South image topped our charts on social media by capturing a meteor passing by like no other. #astronomy

📸: @GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek
November 17, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
Watch this visualization of the supernova remnant known as SNR 0509-67.5. The delicate sphere of gas, photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, is the result of gas that is being shocked by the expanding blast wave from a supernova. 🔭 🧪
The Red Bubble: Supernova Remnant SNR 0509-67.5
This movie presents a visualization of the supernova remnant known as SNR 0509-67.5. The delicate sphere of gas, photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is the result of gas that is being shocked by the expanding blast wave from a supernova. The ...
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
STScI has three goals: 1) to excel in the science operations of NASA's current and future astrophysics missions; 2) to advance astronomical research, archives, and tools for scientific discovery; and 3) to make astronomical information accessible to all: https://www.stsci.edu/ 🔭 🧪
November 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
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hbhammel.bsky.social
For my Hawai'i based friends - public talk at the @keckobservatory.bsky.social HQ in Waimea. John Grunsfeld, astronaut and Hubble repairman, will discuss "From the Hubble Space Telescope to the Habitable Worlds Observatory."
Poster advertising astronaut John Grunsfeld, who will be giving a public lecture at the Keck Observatory HQ in Waimea Hawaii on 13 November 2025. It shows several pictures of John in his astronaut gear, as well as a picture of the twin telescopes of the Keck Observatory. John worked on multiple servicing missions for the Hubble Space Telescope, and his talk will connect Hubble to the future Habitable Worlds Observatory being planning by NASA and the astronomy communities.
October 29, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
#NASAWebb 🤝 Rocky exoplanets

With Webb, astronomers have found that several rocky worlds around red dwarf stars have no atmospheres. This is fostering new questions about these distant, habitable-zone worlds, and Webb is helping astronomers investigate.

Credit: STScI. 🔭 🧪
October 30, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
vrubinobs.bsky.social
A decade of discovery and dedication! 🌎🔭

Sandrine Thomas, Deputy Director for NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory Construction, reflects on her path — moving from France to the US, traveling to Chile, and sharing her work with her family.

🎥 Meet Sandrine https://youtu.be/_r-e0kzYjf4
October 30, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
Explore the Hubble Ultra Deep Field! 👀

This visualization showcases the characteristics and contents of this landmark observation, as well as its four-dimensional nature across both space and time. 🔭 🧪
Ultra Deep Field: Looking Out into Space, Looking Back into Time
This six-minute visual exploration of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field showcases the characteristics and contents of this landmark observation, as well as its four-dimensional nature across both space and time. In particular, galaxies are seen to more than 1...
youtu.be
October 31, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
CAT’S PAW ON YOUR WALL! Download and print a poster featuring an infrared image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula captured in 2025 by #NASAWebb. Perfect for posting at home, school, work, or around your neighborhood: https://go.nasa.gov/3IThBsS 🔭 🧪
A James Webb Space Telescope image featuring a detailed view of the Cat's Paw Nebula, showcasing vibrant clouds of gas and dust in rich blues and oranges. Surrounding the nebula is a black border with the NASA logo at the top right, and the words “James Webb Space Telescope, Cat’s Paw Nebula at the bottom left. Along the bottom of the image are muted shades of blue, green, yellow and red.
November 3, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
In 2023, #NASAWebb observed a spectacular light show on Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. The planet’s auroras are hundreds of times brighter and more energetic than Earth’s. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Nichols (University of Leicester), M. Zamani (ESA/Webb). 🔭 🧪
November 4, 2025 at 3:23 PM
aura-astronomy.bsky.social
👻🔭 Happy Halloween! Enjoy this spooky ghost nebula and some spaced out dancers courtesy of NSF NOIRLab and the Mayall Telescope at NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory!

Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
A white partially transparent triangle rises up against a dark starry background. The top is tinged with brown. To the left are brown areas of dust that look like dancers waving their arms.
October 31, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
This visualization explores the Orion Nebula as seen in visible-light observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. These high-resolution visible observations show fine details including the wispy bow shocks and tadpole-shaped proplyds. 🔭 🧪
Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible Light
This visualization explores the Orion Nebula as seen in visible-light observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. This movie is designed to be compared and contrasted against the companion movie using infrared-light observations from the Spitzer Space...
youtu.be
October 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
Reminder: #NASAWebb is revealing intricate details and stunning objects that we can’t see in visible light. In infrared light, Webb reveals barred spiral galaxy NGC 1433’s bright core, hollow cavities, and filaments of dust and gas: https://bit.ly/3Lh8G5e 🔭 🧪
A large, face-on spiral galaxy takes up the entirety of the frame. The scene is mostly black with a bright, glowing oval core at the center. The core is mostly bright white, but there are also swirling, detailed structures that resemble water circling a drain. There is white- and light-blue-colored dust that emanates from the core’s center, but it is tightly contained to the core. There is black space between the core and glowing dust of the outer oval rings. The rings are wispy and highlight filaments of dust around cavernous black bubbles. The dust in the outer rings contains dots that are navy blue, pinkish, reddish, and white. Throughout, there is also a smattering of background galaxies seen as small red and greenish dots.
October 21, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
press.aas.org
National Solar Observatory: 30 Hours Worth of Cona Science-Data Released nso.edu/blog/30-hour...
30 Hours Worth of Cona Science-Data Released - NSO - National Solar Observatory
In May, NSF NSO & NJIT unveiled the clearest-ever images of plasma in the Sun’s corona. NOW, 80+ high-res observations are publicly available.
nso.edu
October 7, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
Can a small planet maintain an atmosphere in the blazing light of a small, cool red dwarf star? #NASAWebb and Hubble are teaming up to find out. Learn more about the Rocky Worlds program designed to understand the most common type of planetary system in the galaxy: https://go.nasa.gov/3VLUJ1n 🔭 🧪
Artist's concept of a planet with a dark and light gray mottled surface moving out from behind its star. Most of the hemisphere in view is lit by the star, which has dynamic patterning and an orange coloring somewhat darker than the Sun.
October 7, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
Did you miss last week's Deep Space Dialogues with STScI's Nestor Espinoza, as he chatted about atmospheres of distant exoplanets? Watch it now and learn about how #NASAWebb is dramatically changing our understanding of planetary systems in the cosmos. 🔭 🧪
Alien Skies: Exploring Distant Exoplanet Atmospheres with Webb
YouTube video by Space Telescope Science Institute
www.youtube.com
September 22, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
vrubinobs.bsky.social
Are you more of a spring🌺 or winter❄️ palette? 🎨

Today is the September #equinox, the first day of spring in the Southern hemisphere. That means we’re swapping the cool, crisp tones of snow and winter for the fresh, warm hues of spring just around the corner.💐

🔭 🧪
The boot-shaped Rubin Observatory sits atop a rocky mountain peak under a clear blue sky. In the foreground, yellow wildflowers and desert shrubs grow among rugged brown rocks. A five-color palette beneath the photo shows dusty blue, light blue, green, gold, and brown. The boot-shaped Rubin Observatory sits atop a rocky mountain peak under a clouded sky. The rugged brown rocks are draped in ice and snow. A five-color palette beneath the photo shows almost-black, light blue, light grayish blue, gray, and off-white. A dramatic sunset over Cerro Pachón after a snow storm bathes the low-hanging clouds in pink and orange. A snow-dusted ridgeline cuts through the scene. A five-color palette beneath the photo shows a dark dusty blue, rich dark blue, pinky orange, light pink, and a darker dusty pink An indistinguishable photo, the result of snow completely covering the camera. A five-color palette beneath the photo shows various shades of gray.
September 22, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
A nearby, burned-out star is eating a fragment of a Pluto-like object. Only Hubble could identify that this is taking place with its unique ultraviolet vision: https://bit.ly/4mZk6sx 🔭 🧪
An illustration showing a glowing white object in the upper left corner. This object is encircled by hundreds of thin, concentric, pale-yellow rings on an angle from bottom left to top right. The rings are palest closest to the central, glowing white object. A curving trail of gray, rock-like fragments marches across the right side, through the thin rings and joins the rings at far right. The eight largest fragments of varying sizes appear in the foreground. These objects have white, comet-like tails streaking away from the glowing white object in the rings’ center. The curving trail of fragments bends toward the glowing white object. At the bottom left corner is the label Artist’s Concept.
September 18, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
TOMORROW (Sept. 17, 7 p.m. ET): STScI's Dr. Néstor Espinoza will explore some of the most exciting findings #NASAWebb is unveiling about the atmospheres of distant exoplanets. 🔭 🧪
https://youtube.com/live/i466qvWBQ1o?feature=share
Alien Skies: Exploring Distant Exoplanet Atmospheres with Webb
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is humanity's sharpest eye to look at the infrared Universe. From being able to detect the faint glow of the first galaxies to being able to characterize the atmospheres of Earth-sized worlds, the observatory's uniq...
youtube.com
September 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
🔭 🧪 Seven Earth-sized worlds orbit the star TRAPPIST-1, but it is much more volatile than our sun. Scientists think the system’s fourth planet is the best candidate for maintaining an atmosphere and a habitable surface: https://bit.ly/47Pt4nh
Illustration of a star with multiple flares and four small orbiting planets. The star is off center to the lower right, with a silhouetted planet to its lower right. A second planet, also silhouetted, is shown to the left of the first planet. The second planet is closer to the star and appears much smaller. A third planet is directly to the left of the star, gray and white but without much detail, and farther out near the left edge of the image is the fourth planet, also gray with little detail. The words “Artist’s Concept” is in gray at the bottom left.
September 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM
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usngo.bsky.social
Galaxy NGC 772 is known for its overdeveloped spiral arm, caused by tidal interactions with its neighboring dwarf galaxy NGC 770. This image was captured by the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i. #astronomy @aura-astronomy.bsky.social

📷: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
September 3, 2025 at 2:49 PM
aura-astronomy.bsky.social
🔭🧪
hbhammel.bsky.social Heidi B. Hammel @hbhammel.bsky.social · Aug 25
Whoa! Also dropping just a few hours ago: JWST 🔭 observations of 3I/ATLAS! science.nasa.gov/blogs/3iatla... Brilliant spectroscopy in addition to images of the CO2 coma - see link to paper. (P.S. still no evidence of alien engineering.)
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Observes Interstellar Comet - NASA Science
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Aug. 6, with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument. The research team has been
science.nasa.gov
August 26, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
“Knowing more about the star in turn helps us learn even more about the planet, like a feedback loop,” said co-author Brett Morris, a senior software engineer at STScI. 🔭 🧪
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/tess/astronomers-map-stellar-polka-dots-using-nasas-tess-kepler/
Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler - NASA Science
Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their
science.nasa.gov
August 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
Discover how astronomers read spectra to determine the temperature of distant stars: https://youtu.be/VsS5FD5CwlE #Spectroscopy 🔭 🧪
Reading the Rainbow: Temperature - Spectroscopy
YouTube video by Space Telescope Science Institute
youtu.be
August 26, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by AURA Astronomy
stsci.edu
The more we look with #NASAWebb, the more we find! The latest discovery? A tiny new moon orbiting Uranus. It’s just six miles (9.6 kilometers) in diameter: science.nasa.gov/blogs/webb/2... 🔭 🧪
August 19, 2025 at 3:04 PM