Deep in the southern constellation Columba, a spiral galaxy named NGC 1792 shines brighter than most of its size. Even after decades in orbit, NASA / ESA's Hubble Space Telescope has delivered one of its best shots yet of this starry island. Seen edge on, NGC 1792 stretches across about 90,000 light-years, a respectable size that’s a bit smaller than the Milky Way. Light now reaching us left this galaxy 40 million years ago, when dinosaurs were still roaming, and has been traveling 40 million light-years through space. Scottish astronomer James Dunlop first spotted it in 1826 with a small

**_Stellar Pre-Winter Seasonal Offerings | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory_** Before fall gives way to winter in the northern hemisphere, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has several images that celebrate autumn and its many delights to share. In spirit of the season, this collection gathers Chandra data with those from its telescopic family including NASA’s James Webb, Hubble, and Spitzer Space Telescopes, plus others in space and on the ground. Here is a sample of the seasonal offerings that space has in store: For many, nothing evokes fall more than fallen leaves. In this view of NGC 6334, glowing pockets of dust and gas in the nebula resemble leaves that have been picked up by a wind gust. This region is indeed home to strong winds blowing from the young stars that have formed there. This image contains X-ray data from Chandra (blue, green, and yellow) that shows the effects of these winds, which have been combined with infrared data from the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope (red, brown), which shows the dust and gas that fuels the growing stars. Born after a violent explosion of a star, this cosmic gourd is the supernova remnant G272.2-03.2. X-ray observations from Chandra provide evidence that G272 is the result of a Type Ia supernova explosion, where a white dwarf star pulls material from a companion star until it triggers a thermonuclear explosion and obliterates the star. The inside of the “pumpkin” is superheated gas that is filling the space cleared out by the explosion as it moves outward. A cornucopia is a horn-shaped basket that traditionally carries fruits and vegetables. There is nothing edible in this pair of galactic cornucopias but there are a bounty of stars, dust, and other ingredients that make up these two spiral galaxies, known as NGC 2207 and IC 2163, that we see face-on. This view of NGC 2207 and IC 2163 takes a James Webb infrared image and adds the X-ray view from Chandra. Together, it is quite an eye-catching result. Multiple telescopes teamed up to capture an image that looks like a cozy sweater with fuzzy arms. X-rays from Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton, optical light data from Hubble and the Very Large Telescope in Chile, and an optical [PE1] image from an astrophotographer combine to reveal R Aquarii. Nestled within the cozy ‘body’ of R Aquarii is a pair of stars where a white dwarf is pulling material from a much larger red giant companion. When enough material accumulates on the surface of the white dwarf, it triggers an outburst that sends a jet out into space. Over time, these jets twist and loop around each other weaving the structure seen today. Video Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Duration: 3 minutes, 23 seconds Release Date: Nov. 24, 2025 #NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #NGC6334 #Stars #RAquarii #SupernovaRemnants #G2722032 #Galaxies #NGC2207 #IC2163 #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #SpaceTelescopes #XrayAstronomy #MSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Welcome to the 18th annual Space Telescope Advent Calendar, featuring remarkable images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. Every day until December 25, this page will present a new, incredible image of our universe.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida), Nazar Budaiev (University of Florida), Taehwa Yoo (University of Florida); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured glowing cosmic dust heated by very young massive stars in unprecedented detail in this image of the Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) molecular cloud released on Sept. 24, 2025. Sgr B2 is the most massive, and active star-forming region in our galaxy, located only a few hundred light years from our central supermassive black hole. While Sgr B2 has only 10% of the galactic center’s gas, it produces 50% of its stars. Astronomers want to figure out why it is so much more active than the rest of the galactic center. MIRI has both a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. MIRI’s view reveals colorful stars punctuated occasionally by bright clouds of gas and dust. Further research into these stars will reveal details of their masses and ages, which will help astronomers better understand the process of star formation in this dense, active galactic center region. _Image credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida), Nazar Budaiev (University of Florida), Taehwa Yoo (University of Florida); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)_

Using images from the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb), an international research team including Western's Stanimir Metchev has discovered new answers to explain how some brown dwarfs form giant dust storms, contradicting previous assumptions. These storms may look similar to Jupiter's iconic Great Red Spot, but the new study, led by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, shows they actually form quite differently.

The Pandora Space Telescope will study 20 promising worlds that could host life

An international team including astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the National Center of Competence in Research PlanetS has observed giant clouds of helium escaping from the exoplanet WASP-107b. Obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope, these observations were modeled using tools developed at UNIGE.

The combination of the $z=0-13.5$ cosmic star formation history and active galactic nuclei (AGN) luminosity history as inferred by the James Webb Space Telescope is connected to the cosmic spectral energy distribution (CSED) to explore the sources of reionisation. We compute the redshift evolution of the corresponding cosmic ionising photon emissivity, the neutral fraction and the cosmic microwave background optical depth. We use the generative SED modelling code ProSpect to bracket the ionising emissivity between escape fractions of $f_{\mathrm{esc}} = 1 - 100\%$ for both the stars and AGN. Stars alone could have achieved reionisation by $z\approx 6$ with $f_{\mathrm{esc}} \gtrsim 30\%$ for solar metallicity ($Z=0.02$) stars or $f_{\mathrm{esc}} \gtrsim 10\%$ for metal-poor ($Z=10^{-4}$) stars. On the other hand, AGN by themselves would have struggled to produce sufficiently many ionising photons even with $f_{\mathrm{esc}} = 100\%$. A hybrid model containing both stars and AGN is explored where we find best fit (median$\pm 1σ$) $f_{\mathrm{esc}}=$ $12\%$ ($14^{+9}_{-7}\%$) for the stars and $f_{\mathrm{esc}}=$ $63\%$ ($60^{+28}_{-32}\%$) for the AGN, maintained at all redshifts. In essence, the joint growth of stellar mass and supermassive black holes produces neither more nor fewer ionising photons than needed to reionise $\gtrsim 99\%$ of the intergalactic medium by $z\approx 6$.

**_Close-up: Spiral Galaxy NGC 1073 in Cetus | Hubble Space Telescope_** The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073. It is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is thought to be a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies, such as NGC 1073, can help astronomers learn more about our celestial home. Distance: 55 million light years from Earth Credit: NASA & European Space Agency (ESA) Duration: 30 seconds Release Date: Feb. 3, 2012 #NASA #Astronomy #Hubble #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC1073 #SpiralGalaxies #SB #Cetus #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered puzzling ultraviolet radiation around young stars in a stellar nursery.

**_Spiral Galaxy NGC 1073 in Cetus | Hubble Space Telescope_** The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073. It is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is thought to be a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies, such as NGC 1073, can help astronomers learn more about our celestial home. Distance: 55 million light years from Earth Credit: NASA & European Space Agency (ESA) Release Date: Feb. 3, 2012 #NASA #Astronomy #Hubble #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC1073 #SpiralGalaxies #SB #Cetus #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #STEM #Education

Exploring habitable exoplanets beyond our solar system focuses on the Goldilocks Zone and atmospheric composition. Instruments limit observations to nearby large planets.