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This artist’s impression shows a rocky exoplanet with a wispy, cloudy atmosphere orbiting a red dwarf star. Astronomers have identified a new method that could allow Webb to detect an exoplanet’s atmosphere in just a few hours of observing time.

Hubble Detects Dynamic Galactic Duo

SMOS in orbit.

Researchers used the space-based CALIPSO lidar to measure the planet’s largest animal migration, which takes place when small sea creatures swim up from the depths at night to feed on phytoplankton, then back down again just before sunrise.

Five new NASA field research campaigns investigating a number of phenomena across the United States get underway this year.

The spiral galaxy NGC 4631 is seen edge-on, with its disk of stars shown in pink. The observed magnetic field pattern is displayed by the hair-like structure in green and blue. It extends beyond the disk into the galaxy's extended halo. Green indicates magnetic fields pointing roughly toward us and blue fields pointing away from us. This phenomenon, with the field alternating in direction, has never before been seen in the halo of a galaxy.

The dwarf galaxy Sculptor, above, is a companion to the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers will use Webb to study the motions of stars in Sculptor and Draco, another dwarf companion to the Milky Way. By studying how the stars move, the researchers will be able to determine how the dark matter is distributed in these galaxies.

Hubble Eyes an Emitting Galaxy

With increasing data quality (shown progressively, left to right, in images from 2012, 2015, and 2019) Assistant Professor Michael McDonald and colleagues can conclusively show that the black hole in the Phoenix galaxy cluster is not preventing star formation.

GRB 190114C (Artist’s Impression)