Beyond snapping extraordinary pictures of faraway nebulas, the revolutionary Hubble Space Telescope has completely transformed our view of the universe since it was launched in 1990. By capturing the clearest, deepest images of the cosmos ever, Hubble has shed light on some long-standing mysteries perplexing scientists-while uncovering far deeper ones that have yet to be solved. picked by AutumnLotus 11 months ago

Astronomers believe they've glimpsed light from some of the universe's first stars through the world's largest telescope on the Big Island. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

The Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham, Ariz., has taken celestial images using its twin side-by-side, 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) primary mirrors together, achieving first "binocular" light. picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

Scheduled for launch in 2013, the Webb telescope is widely regarded as the premier observatory of the next decade. It is an infrared telescope, which means it senses the heat of stars and galaxies millions and even billions of light years away. picked by suebe 12 months ago

The Hubble Space Telescope has provided evidence representing a major upset for conventional theories that propose a single period for star birth. The European Space Agency said the telescope, observing globular cluster NGC 2808, has shown three separate generations of stars formed early in the cluster's life. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Astronomers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research have discovered a new cluster of galaxies, hidden behind a previously identified cluster of galaxies. The recently exposed cosmic giant is apparently just as bright as the first group, but is six times further away. The astronomers made the discovery as part of an international team using the space telescope XMM-Newton. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

The Implantable Miniature Telescope (IMT)


I kinda want one. picked by deepchill 11 months ago

Astronomers from Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have detected for the first time the molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide – two ingredients that build life-forming amino acids – in a galaxy some 250 million light years away. picked by AutumnLotus 6 months ago

Scientists have taken a giant leap toward making possible the dream of building a powerful telescope on the moon that could withstand even the harshest of lunar conditions. picked by DrNothing 1 year ago

The new South Pole Telescope (SPT) has successfully collected its first light as part of a long-term project to unravel one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology, researchers announced today. picked by Neiako 1 year ago

By taking advantage of the unique position of NASA's Spitzer's Space Telescope millions of miles from Earth, and a depth-perceiving trick called parallax, they were able to pin down the most probable location of one such object. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Messier 74, also called NGC 628, is a stunning example of a 'grand-design' spiral galaxy that is viewed by Earth observers nearly face-on. Its perfectly symmetrical spiral arms emanate from the central nucleus and are dotted with clusters of young blue stars. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

A collection of Hubble Space Telescope images shows distant supernovas, the death explosions of massive stars. The top photos show each region before the explosion. The bottom row shows the explosions' aftermaths. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Scientists are using the giant Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to go prospecting in a rich molecular cloud in our Milky Way Galaxy. They seek to discover new, complex molecules in interstellar space that may be precursors to life. picked by AutumnLotus 2 weeks ago

On April 9, the Sun erupted and blasted a bubble of hot, ionized gas into the solar system. The eruption was observed in unprecedented detail by a fleet of spacecraft, revealing new features that are predicted by computer models but difficult to see in practice. VIDEO picked by AutumnLotus 2 months ago

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has probed the bright core of Comet 17P/Holmes which, to the delight of sky watchers, mysteriously brightened by nearly a million-fold in a 24-hour period beginning October 23, 2007. VIDEOS included. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

I think I beat Autumn to it! picked by Bornbad 2 months ago

The "lifestyles" of 75 neighboring galaxies are illuminated in this poster from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Scientists say this fresh perspective of our cosmic neighborhood provides valuable insights into growth process of galaxies at a glance. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

Astronomers using the Gemini telescope on top of Mauna Kea have discovered "ice volcanoes" on the little moon Charon circling the far distant dwarf planet Pluto. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Astronomers have made use of ESO's Very Large Telescope to detect for the first time in the ultraviolet the carbon monoxide molecule in a galaxy located almost 11 billion light-years away, a feat that had remained elusive for 25 years. This detection allows them to obtain the most precise measurement of the cosmic temperature at such a remote epoch. picked by AutumnLotus 2 months ago