The James Webb Space Telescope is beginning to reveal previously unknowable facts about the composition of exoplanets -- about the presence or absence of atmospheres around the exoplanets and the makeup of any atmospheres that are detected. The results have been coming in for some months and they are a delight to scientists. And as …
Continue reading "What the JWST is Learning About Exoplanet Atmospheres"
Over the next three weeks-plus, the James Webb Space Telescope will play out an unfurling and deployment in deep space unlike anything this world has seen before. It took decades to perfect the observatory -- a segmented telescope on a heat shield the length of a tennis court that was squeezed for launch into a …
Continue reading "The Amazing Unfurling Of The James Webb Space Telescope"
Earlier last week, NASA put out a release alerting journalists to "an exciting announcement about the agency’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission." Given the controversial history of the project -- the current administration has formally proposed cancelling it for several years and the astronomy community (and Congress) have been keep it going -- …
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket transporting the TESS satellite lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, April 18, 2018. The space telescope will survey almost the entire sky, staring at the brightest, closest stars in an effort to find any planets that might be …
This column was written by my colleague Elizabeth Tasker, now at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS). Trained as an astrophysicist, she researches planet and galaxy formation and also writes on space science topics. Her book, "The Planet Factory," came out last year. On January 5, 2010, NASA …
I'd like to make a slight detour and talk not about the science of exoplanets and astrobiology, but rather a particular exoplanet scientist who I've had the pleasure to work with. The scientist is Natalie Batalha, who has been lead scientist for NASA's landmark Kepler Space Telescope mission since soon after it launched in 2009, …
I'd like to make a slight detour and talk not about the science of exoplanets and astrobiology, but rather a particular exoplanet scientist who I've had the pleasure to work with. The scientist is Natalie Batalha, who has been lead scientist for NASA's landmark Kepler Space Telescope mission since soon after it launched in 2009, …
Recent word that the giant mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is essentially complete is a cause for celebration, a milestone in the long march toward launching what will be the most powerful astronomical instrument ever. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden made the announcement at the Goddard Space Flight Center, with senior project scientist John …
Recent word that the giant mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is essentially complete is a cause for celebration, a milestone in the long march toward launching what will be the most powerful astronomical instrument ever. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden made the announcement at the Goddard Space Flight Center, with senior project scientist John …
Before there were planets in our solar system, there was a star that would become our sun. Before there was a sun, there were older stars and exoplanets throughout the galaxies. Before there were galaxies with stars and exoplanets, there were galaxies with stars and no planets. Before there were galaxies without planets, there were …
Many Worlds 