If you think your new 14 megapixel camera is powerful, take a look at the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Designed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, once completed this 3.2 billion-pixel digital camera will capture about 6 million gigabytes of data per year for researchers. Having passed Critical Decision 1 from the DOE, construction is still [...]

Dust and light from the zodiacal cloud in our solar system interferes with infrared, optical and ultraviolet observations. By placing a space telescope on an inclined orbit, scientists have found a cost effective way to reduce this unwanted illumination and can improve telescope sensitivity by a factor of two in the near-ultraviolet and by 13 [...]

Launched on April 28, 2003, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was on a mission to study aspects of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history. The spacecraft is now set to be decommissioned, nine years after the telescope’s launch. NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was placed in standby mode today as engineers [...]

The Helix Nebula in the Aquarius constellation, located some 700 light-years away from Earth, was just observed by the piercing infrared gaze of the VISTA telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Some have referred to the images as the Eye of Sauron, from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The images reveal cold gas [...]

Together, the twin telescopes of the Gemini Observatory, which consists of two 8.1 m (27 ft) telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, provide almost complete coverage of both the northern and southern skies and have been lauded among the largest and most advanced optical and IR telescopes available to astronomers. However, in recent years, it has [...]

Supernova Primo originated 9 billion years ago, when its progenitor star exploded. The light was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope by a three-year project specifically trying to find Type Ia supernovae. These types of supernovae are paramount in order to discover more about the inflationary nature of our universe. Researchers have been able to [...]

On December 22, Guillaume Blanchard of the European Southern Observatory captured one amazing image that features two impressive objects together: comet Lovejoy and ESO’s Telescope, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It’s an amazing once in a lifetime image. The comet was discovered on November 27 by astronomer Terry Lovejoy. Due to the fact [...]

It’s amazing to think that a NASA telescope mounted in a specially modified Boeing 747SP jet can look into the heart of a nebula where stars are being born, but that is the age we live in. Called SOFIA, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, took two photos of a star-forming region of the Orion [...]

As if we needed any reminders, it just illustrates how Hubble has been one of the most successful scientific endeavors ever undertaken by humans. We must continue to take care of it. The telescope has been serviced five times by astronauts since its start and it has proven itself well worth the upkeep. Throughout its [...]

The death of a star has been captured on film just fourteen days after the explosion occurred, marking the supernova in the galaxy Galàxia del Remolí (M51) that occurred in June as the youngest supernova to be photographed. Numerous telescopes across Spain, Sweden, Germany and Finland, including NASA’s telescopes at Robledo de Chavela (Madrid) and [...]