The STScI Newsletter provides articles of interest to the general astronomical community; presents updates on the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, and other initiatives; and announces relevant meetings and workshops.
The items below represent all volumes, issues, and articles within past and current newsletters. You may use the filter bar to search by specific criteria including relevant missions, volumes and the issues within them, and/or keywords.
Hubble's COS is the most sensitive UV spectrograph ever flown. New strategies are continuously being developed to keep the FUV channel operating into the 2030s and beyond. Recent innovations include lifetime position placement based on updated gain-flagging methodologies and dynamic flight software patching.
Hubble's SI C&DH routes commands and data to the science instruments, with two redundant electronics sides providing hardware backup. A 2021 fault in Side B left Hubble one failure away from ceasing science operations. The B-Side Operations (BSO) solution restores full redundancy.
Hubble's FGSs provide the pointing stability that underpins virtually all its science. Starting in Cycle 34, qualifying ACS/WFC and WFC3 imaging observations will default to single guide star (1GS) guiding. Comprehensive testing confirms no perceptible impact on image quality, while reducing mechanical wear on the FGSs, improving observing success rates, and adding scheduling flexibility — extending FGS lifetime into the 2030s.
Contribute to Hubble’s future scientific portfolio by submitting white papers by May 22. Community white papers will help develop a roadmap for the programmatic, operational, and scientific future of Hubble through the 2030s.
STScI recently completed the proposal review and telescope allocation process for JWST Cycle 5. The worldwide astronomical community engaged in an unprecedented brainstorm, setting a new record for proposals received in response to any Call for Proposals by a major observatory. Here, we summarize the review process and the results and offer pointers for Cycle 6 applicants.
Review the list of recommended JWST Cycle 5 Large Proposals, Treasury Proposals, Archival Research Legacy Proposals, and Pure Parallel Proposals, roughly ordered by scientific topic to learn about the exciting new science that these observations will enable.
The Space Telescope Science Institute's 2025 annual report is live! This publication explores how our 850-plus staff members came together to serve both astronomers and the public throughout the year.
Introducing “Hands-on Hubble,” a four-part video tutorial series that guides users step-by-step through the fundamentals of using WFC3 data, navigating the HST Jupyter Notebooks Repository, running DrizzlePac, and creating PSF models.
To maximize the scientific utility of data delivered by the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the mission's partners will deliver a range of products to the astronomical community. Read about the differences between STScI data products created and available upon receipt of the data, and those created for periodic formal data releases. This article also details data products from mission partners, and links to resources.
Astronomers are encouraged to jump onto the Roman Research Nexus now to explore tutorial-style workflows, understand Roman’s data structures, analyze simulated and test data, and build and test tailored workflows in anticipation of the beginning of science operations in 2027.
Hubble’s Space Telescope Users Committee (STUC) met virtually in December 2025. Topics included mission and instrument statuses, updates about the budget, and science-ready products and tools. Of special note was the very high probability that Hubble will continue to generate unique, impactful science into the 2030s. The STUC will deliver a full report with recommendations based on the information presented.
In the second half of 2025, STScI staff supported Hubble, Webb, Roman, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, and MAST to enable research. We also continued to produce products that communicate these missions’ scientific discoveries. Find opportunities to collaborate or request support, and learn more about how we cover scientific discoveries.
Join upcoming conferences, workshops, symposia, and other astronomy community events, including Language AI in the Space Sciences and Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, organized by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Links and recordings to recent events are included.
STScI will participate in the 247th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Phoenix, Arizona, January 4 to 8. Throughout the week, members of STScI will be involved in a wide variety of science and technical presentations, press conferences, and more. This article may be updated closer to the meeting date.
Read about Roman’s fully defined Galactic Plane General Astrophysics Survey — and all the possibilities for its science.
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