Telescopes News

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Backplane Support Frame Added to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

Assembly of the backbone of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the primary mirror backplane support structure, is a step closer to completion with the recent addition of the backplane support frame, a fixture that will be used to connect all the pieces of the telescope together.

15 Jun 2013

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope Shows Blooming Stars in Milky Way Galaxy

New views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show blooming stars in our Milky Way galaxy's more barren territories, far from its crowded core.

7 Jun 2013

Inexpensive Ground-Based Telescopes Aid Discovery of Hot Saturn-Like Planet

A four-university collaboration that includes Lehigh University astrophysicist Joshua Pepper has discovered a hot Saturn-like planet in another solar system 700 light years away.

5 Jun 2013

NASA's Swift Satellite Used to Create Detailed UV Light Surveys of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds

Astronomers at NASA and Pennsylvania State University have used NASA's Swift satellite to create the most detailed ultraviolet light surveys ever of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the two closest major galaxies.

4 Jun 2013

Proxima Centauri's Trajectory Offers Hubble Interesting Opportunity to Hunt for Planets

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will have two opportunities in the next few years to hunt for Earth-sized planets around the red dwarf Proxima Centauri.

4 Jun 2013

Astronomers Directly Observe Least Massive Planet Outside the Solar System

A team of astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope has imaged a faint object moving near a bright star. With an estimated mass of four to five times that of Jupiter, it would be the least massive planet to be directly observed outside the Solar System. The discovery is an important contribution to our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems.

3 Jun 2013

Gemini Observatory Images Show Comet ISON Racing Towards a Close Brush with the Sun

Images of Comet ISON over the past three months hint at coming changes as comet speeds into the inner solar system.

1 Jun 2013

Campaign Launched for Crowdfunded Space Telescope

Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, has launched a campaign for the world's first crowdfunded space telescope to provide unprecedented public access to space and place the most advanced exploration technology into the hands of students, scientists and a new generation of citizen explorers.

30 May 2013

ILOA Unveils Flight Test Hardware for Worlds' First Private Lunar Telescope

The International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), based in Hawai`i and led by American businessman and educator Steve Durst , today unveiled flight test hardware for the first private telescope that will be launched to the Moon in 2015.

29 May 2013

NASA may be Able to Repair Kepler Space Telescope

NASA officials announced Wednesday, May 15, that the Kepler space telescope – the agency's primary instrument for detecting planets beyond our solar system – had suffered a critical failure and could soon be shut down permanently.

20 May 2013