Press Releases

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NASA Webb Uncovers Unusual Galaxy Shaped by Cosmic Collision

July 06, 2026Release ID: 2026-120 Missions: Webb

Hidden structures of a galaxy shaped by past collision come into view in infrared light

$A horizontal image of the galaxy Centaurus A stretches across a black background filled with thousands of tiny purple, pink, and white points of light. The galaxy is brightest at its center, where a brilliant white and pale pink glow radiates outward. Eight diffraction spikes extend from the central glow. Delicate loops and wispy ribbons of pink and lavender arc above and below the center of the image in the shape of an ‘S’. A band of gray and white dust in the shape of a parallelogram cuts across the middle of the galaxy. Mottled patches and bright knots are scattered throughout the dusty band. The galaxy’s outer edges fade into soft, cloud-like plumes with feathery textures that stretch toward the left and right sides of the image. Against the surrounding darkness, a few bright foreground stars shine with Webb’s distinctive diffraction spikes, while countless fainter stars create a speckled backdrop.$
NASA’s Webb Pinpoints Millions of Stars Within Cigar Galaxy

June 23, 2026Release ID: 2026-115 Missions: Webb

By piercing through thick dust, new details of galaxy M82 shine through.

$Composite image of edge-on spiral starburst galaxy Messier 82 as observed by NASA's James Webb and Hubble space telescopes. Hourglass-shaped plumes of gas are shooting outward from above and below a bright blue-white, disk-shaped center. The plumes are yellow near the galaxy’s bright center, denoting areas of ionized hydrogen gas as observed by Hubble, and gradually become redder as you move farther away. Messier 82 is set against the black background of space, which has many distant galaxies that appear as small white and orange spirals, ovals, and points of light. Toward the right of Messier 82 is a blue-white star with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb.$
NASA's Webb Probes an Extreme Starburst Galaxy

April 03, 2024Release ID: 2024-109 Missions: Webb

Amid a site teeming with new and young stars lies an intricate substructure.
Studying Galaxy Growth Spurts in the Early Universe with NASA’s Roman

June 27, 2022Release ID: 2022-018 Missions: Roman

Roman will bring new insights into the time known as “cosmic noon.”
Hubble Finds a Black Hole Igniting Star Formation in a Dwarf Galaxy

January 19, 2022Release ID: 2022-002 Missions: Hubble

Dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10 continues to make a big impact, defying astronomers' expectations
Stellar 'Fireworks Finale' Came First in the Young Universe

January 08, 2002Release ID: 2002-02 Missions: Hubble

The deepest views of the cosmos from the Hubble Space Telescope yield clues that the very first stars may have burst into the universe as brilliantly and spectacularly as a fireworks finale. Except in this case, the...
Hubble Unveils a Galaxy in Living Color

May 31, 2001Release ID: 2001-16 Missions: Hubble

In this view of the center of the magnificent barred spiral galaxy NGC 1512, the Hubble telescope reveals a stunning 2,400 light-year-wide circle of infant star clusters. Astronomers generally believe that the giant...
Hubble Spies Huge Clusters of Stars Formed by Ancient Encounter

March 07, 2001Release ID: 2001-08 Missions: Hubble

Studying galactic interactions is like sifting through the forensic evidence at a crime scene. Astronomers wade through the debris of a violent encounter, collecting clues so that they can reconstruct the celestial crime...
Astronomers Rule Out Starburst Galaxies as Contributing to the Far-Ultraviolet Background

June 13, 1995Release ID: 1995-28 Missions: STScI

Astronomers using the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), flown aboard the Shuttle ASTRO-2 mission, have been able to exclude one explanation for the mysterious far ultraviolet background radiation that existed when...