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Dec 28

Day 3: Webb Sunshield Starts to Unfold

Unitized Pallet Structures (UPS) unfold. These two pallets (one forward and the other aft) hold the folded sunshield layers. The forward UPS went first. To prepare for the deployment, the spacecraft was maneuvered to provide warmer temperatures on the forward UPS and various heaters were activated to warm key deployment components. Key release devices were activated, and various electronics and software were configured. NASA announced successful deployment of the forward pallet at 1:51 eastern today.

Dec 28

Launch to Day 2

Webb already passed several milestones since its spectacular launch last Saturday. It separated from the Ariane 5 rocket, unfolded its solar panels, and completed two engine burns to adjust its course. It also unfolded its gimbaled antenna for better communications.

Dec 21

NOIRLab: Largest Collection of Free-Floating Planets Found in the Milky Way

Using observations and archival data from several of NSF’s NOIRLab’s observatories, together with observations from telescopes around the world and in orbit, astronomers have discovered at least 70 new free-floating planets — planets that wander through space without a parent star — in a nearby region of the Milky Way.

Dec 14

NOIRLab: Precise Insights into the Supermassive Black Hole in the Milky Way’s Heart

Astronomers have made the most precise measurements yet of the motions of stars around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. These results, obtained with the help of the Gemini North telescope, show that 99.9% of the mass contained at the very center of the galaxy is due to the black hole, and only 0.1% could include stars, smaller black holes, interstellar dust and gas, or dark matter.

Nov 18

STScI: Hubble’s Grand Tour of the Outer Solar System

From its vantage point high above Earth’s atmosphere, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has completed this year’s grand tour of the outer solar system – returning crisp images that complement current and past observations from interplanetary spacecraft. This is the realm of the giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune – extending as far as 30 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.

Nov 2

NOIRLab: Rocky Exoplanets Are Even Stranger Than We Thought

Rocky debris, the pieces of a former rocky planet that has broken up, spiral inward toward a white dwarf in this illustration. Studying the atmospheres of white dwarfs that have been “polluted” by such debris, a NOIRLab astronomer and a geologist have identified exotic rock types that do not exist in our Solar System. The […]


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