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When LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, and its European counterpart, Virgo, detect a gravitational ripple from space, a public alert is sent out. That alert lets researchers know with a decently high confidence that this ripple was probably caused by an exceptional cosmic event, such as the collision of neutron stars or the merging of black holes, somewhere in the universe.

This ECOSTRESS temperature map shows the land surface temperatures throughout Los Angeles County on Aug. 14, 2020, during a heat wave.

To make the new material, the thin film is first deposited via a pulsed-laser deposition process in this chamber. The bright “plume” you see is the laser hitting the target and depositing the material.

Quasars—accreting supermassive black holes—are paradoxically some of the brightest objects in the universe. Astronomers widely consider the energy from quasars to be the main driver in limiting the growth of massive galaxies. Scientists plan to use Webb to study the impact of three carefully selected quasars on their host galaxies in a program called Q3D.

This stereoscopic visualization shows a simple model of the Earth's magnetic field. The magnetic field partially shields the Earth from harmful charged particles emanating from the Sun.

Scientists Determine 'Oumuamua Isn't Made From Molecular Hydrogen Ice After All

This rendering shows the density of matter in the aftermath of two merged neutron stars, resulting in the formation of a black hole.

Auroral beads seen from the International Space Station, Sept. 17, 2011 (Frame ID: ISS029-E-6012).

Betelgeuse’s Dust Cloud (Artist’s Impression)

An image from the Heliospheric Imager aboard NASA’s STEREO spacecraft shows the star Betelgeuse, circled. For several weeks in 2020, STEREO was the only observatory making measurements of Betelgeuse because of the spacecraft’s unique position in space.