Science Archives - AURA Astronomy

May 27, 2026

Space telescope image showing hundreds of bright objects of different size, color, and shape on the black background of space. Colors range from white to deep red. Shapes include elliptical, spiral, dot-like, dash-like, and arcuate. Many of the large objects near the center of the image are fuzzy white, with bright white cores. Many smaller objects scattered throughout the image are pink to red. Three objects in the central part of the image are called out with small white boxes: A box labeled “C” at about 12 o’clock; one labeled “B” at 3 o’clock; and a box labeled “A” at 4 o’clock. Images of the three objects are enlarged in boxes running vertically along the right. From top to bottom these are labeled QSO1A, QSO1B, and QSO1C. At the center of each box is a tiny, circular red dot. QSO1A (top) is notably larger, brighter, and clearer than the other two. QSO1B, in the middle, is smallest and fuzziest, and is somewhat washed out by the light of a larger white object next to it.

NASA’s Webb Reveals Black Hole That Formed Before Its Galaxy

Now, researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected clear evidence that some supermassive black holes were enormous from ...

May 21, 2026

A large white and tan fuzzy object sits on a dark background dotted with stars. The object is convoluted with protruding areas and a bright white star in the center.

Gaze into the Crystal Ball Nebula and See the Light Emitted by a Dying Star 1500 Years Ago

The 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope, located on the summit of Maunakea in Hawai‘i, has captured NGC 1514, nicknamed the Crystal ...

May 11, 2026

An observation (labeled “VISTA V V V Survey, Near-infrared) of the Milky Way’s center pointing toward its supermassive black hole, which is labeled Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A star”). At 7 o’clock from center is a small region, outlined with 5 fields of view from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope that are stacked together in a horizontal rectangle. This region is about a third of the image in length and a fifth of the image in width. Within that same region are diagonal lines that alternate between orange and blue. A legend at the bottom left shows two Hubble instruments. One of them, marked with an orange diamond, is labeled “W F C 3 / U V I S.” The other, marked with a blue diamond, is labeled “A C S / W F C.” The background is a field of stars, gas, and dust that appear grey, except the center third that runs from the left to the right of the frame, which is composed of brown filaments of dust and gas. The tiny region surrounding Sagittarius A star appears orange.

Hubble Survey Sets Up Roman’s Future Look Near Milky Way’s Center

One of the core community surveys of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, is expected to ...

May 6, 2026

Illustration showing a small circular white object on the black background of space speckled with dim stars. The object is glowing, and rays of soft light emanate in all directions. The words “Artist’s Concept” are at the lower right.

NASA’s Roman Poised to Transform Hunt for Elusive Neutron Stars

NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will search for, and could measure the mass of, isolated neutron stars using ...

April 30, 2026

Illustration showing orange looping ribbons over a pink area that fades to yellow. There are purple curling lines over the pink/yellow area.

Reading the Sun’s Fireworks: How Flare Ribbons Reveal Hidden Solar Explosions

A new study by a team led by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope Ambassador Marcel ...

April 24, 2026

Scientific graph divided into 3 sections. Top left is mottled green bottom left and right are blue and red.

NSF-NOAA GONG Maps Hidden Magnetism on the Sun’s Far Side

A team of scientists led by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory developed a new physics-based method to ...

April 20, 2026

$A tightly cropped Hubble view of a vast star-forming region known as the Trifid Nebula. The top left is bright blue. Brown and amber colors run from top right through the center in irregular, overlapping lines to the bottom-center. At bottom right, the view is almost black. Tiny, amber-colored stars appear throughout the scene. Toward the left there is a prominent brown shape that looks like a head with two horns. The left horn points left and is wavy. The right horn is triangular and points up. The brown dust continues, flowing down, as if along a back, and up toward the top right. A prominent line, about the same length as the left horn, appears below the middle of the body, and changes from orange to red. A small, separate semi-transparent pillar is left of the head. A few slightly larger, blue foreground stars with four diffraction spikes appear throughout.$

NASA’s Hubble Dazzles With Young Stars in Trifid Nebula

NASA celebrates Hubble’s 36th anniversary with a new image of the Trifid Nebula, a star-forming region it first captured in ...

April 16, 2026

$Illustration shows four people at work within the outline of a large cloud. At center is a woman with a ponytail and dark skin whose hand is raised and close to the Roman Space Telescope body floating in space next to small white stars. The words, Roman Research Nexus, arc above the pair under the cloud outline. To her left are two other people, one with darker skin who is wearing headphones and writing and another with lighter skin, also with headphones, at a laptop. At right is a man with glasses, short wavy brown hair and light skin who is looking left, toward the telescope. In the background within the cloud shape, there are zeros and ones falling in the left third. At center is part of an outline of Roman’s camera’s field of view, and at right are representations of charts. Above the cloud is a darker background with simpler dark blue shapes. From left to right, they show a sphere following a path, a large spiral galaxy, a large ringed planet, and an object with diffraction spikes.$