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NASA's Giant Thermal Vacuum Chamber Preparing for James Webb Space Telescope Mission

"This is what space science is all about," said NASA photographer Chris Gunn, who captured a photo from outside the enormous mouth of NASA's giant thermal vacuum chamber called Chamber A at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Previously used for manned spaceflight missions, this historic chamber is now filled with engineers and technicians preparing for one of NASA's biggest missions, the James Webb Space Telescope.

23 Dec 2014

India Becomes Full Partner in Thirty Meter Telescope Project

Today in New Delhi, officials of the government of India signed documents establishing the country as a full partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. An international collaboration of institutions in the USA, Canada, Japan, India and China, the TMT project is working towards building a powerful, next-generation astronomical observatory at Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

3 Dec 2014

Researchers Explore Ways to Make Very Large Aperture Telescope in Space

Scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory are exploring a new type of space telescope with an aperture made of swarms of particles released from a canister and controlled by a laser.

2 Dec 2014

Astronomers Measure Transit of Super-Earth using Ground-based Telescope

Astronomers have measured the passing of a super-Earth in front of a bright, nearby Sun-like star using a ground-based telescope for the first time. The transit of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e is the shallowest detected from the ground yet. Since detecting a transit is the first step in analyzing a planet's atmosphere, this success bodes well for characterizing the many small planets that upcoming space missions are expected to discover in the next few years.

2 Dec 2014

NASA Tests Setting up of James Webb Space Telescope's Secondary Mirror

Setting up NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's secondary mirror in space will require special arms that resemble a tripod. NASA recently demonstrated that test in a NASA cleanroom and it was documented in a time-lapse video.

26 Nov 2014

Arizona State University Joins 14 Other Institutions in Radio Telescope Project on the Early Universe

Arizona State University has joined with 14 other institutions in Australia, India, New Zealand and the United States in a radio telescope project that focuses on the early universe and the birth and formation of the first galaxies.

26 Nov 2014

New Imaging Techniques to Study Far Reaches of the Universe

A team of astrophysicists, engineers and computer scientists are spearheading research on imaging techniques which will potentially not only unlock secrets from the far reaches of the universe, but also impact modern medicine.

25 Nov 2014

Hubble Captures Close-Up View of NGC 986 Barred Spiral Galaxy

This Hubble image is a snapshot of NGC 986 — a barred spiral galaxy discovered in 1828 by James Dunlop. This close-up view of the galaxy was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).

24 Nov 2014

Lockheed Martin, NASA and Universities of Arizona and Hawai’i Partner to Operate United Kingdom Infrared Telescope

Lockheed Martin has partnered with the University of Arizona to operate the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) located on Maunakea, Hawaii. The agreement expands the corporation's support of scientists pursuing a broad range of research, from the study of orbital debris to deep space astronomy.

7 Nov 2014

Very Large Telescope Interferometer Probes Exozodiacal Light

Using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in near-infrared light, the team of astronomers observed 92 nearby stars to probe exozodiacal light from hot dust close to their habitable zones and combined the new data with earlier observations. Bright exozodiacal light, created by the glowing grains of hot exozodiacal dust, or the reflection of starlight off these grains, was observed around nine of the targeted stars.

4 Nov 2014

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