Webb Space Telescope

Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the history of our Universe. Webb studies every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. Webb launched on Dec. 25th 2021. It does not orbit around the Earth like the Hubble Space Telescope, it orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. 

NASA’s Webb Images Cold Exoplanet 12 Light-Years Away

An international team of astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has directly imaged an exoplanet roughly 12 light-years from Earth. The planet, Epsilon Indi Ab, is one of the coldest exoplanets observed to date.

The planet is several times the mass of Jupiter and orbits the K-type star Epsilon Indi A (Eps Ind A), which is around the age of our Sun, but slightly cooler. The team observed Epsilon Indi Ab using the coronagraph on Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). Only a few tens of exoplanets have been directly imaged previously by space- and ground-based observatories.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a 2.5m diameter telescope operating at Ultraviolet, Optical, and Near-infrared wavelengths. It is a cooperative program of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the benefit of the international astronomical community. HST provides high-resolution data that is used to understand the structure within galaxies and differentiate the light originating from stars from that originating from black holes. It also has the sensitivity to see the faintest and most distant galaxies.

Herschel

Herschel is a 3.5m diameter telescope operating at mid-infrared, far-infrared, and sub-mm wavelengths. Operated by the European Space Agency, Herschel is the largest, infrared telescope ever flown in space. Herschel data allows scientists to probe the origin and evolution of stars and galaxies to help understand how the Universe came to be the way it is today.

Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is an orbiting space telescope observing galaxies in ultraviolet light across 10 billion years of cosmic history. GALEX’s observations are telling scientists how galaxies, the basic structures of our Universe, evolve and change. Additionally, GALEX observations are investigating the causes of star formation during a period when most of the stars and elements we see today had their origins.

XMM/Newton

The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESA's second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. These data allow astronomers to find black holes and see the hot gas in clusters of galaxies.

Chandra

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. Chandra is designed to observe high resolution X-rays images from high-energy regions of the universe. These data allow astronomers to find black holes and see the hot gas in clusters of galaxies.

Jansky Very Large Array (J-VLA)

The Jansky Very Large Array, one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles) across, with the sensitivity of a dish 130 meters (422 feet) in diameter. These data allow astronomers to probe black holes as well as star formation.

Subaru

Subaru is an 8.3m telescope on the summit of Manua-Kea in Hawaii. The telescope operates at optical to mid-infrared wavelengths, but has an especially powerful capability to image large areas of the sky at optical wavelengths. Astronomers use these images to economically estimate the distances and properties of galaxies.

Keck

The Keck telescopes are two nearly identical 10m telescopes on the summit of Manua-Kea in Hawaii. The telescopes operate at optical to mid-infrared wavelengths, but are especially powerful when used to obtain spectra of galaxies which allow for detailed studies of individual objects.

ALMA

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is radio telescope and interferometer in the Atacama desert of northern Chile located on the Chajnantor plateau at 5,000 meters (16,000 ft) altitude. Its full configuration will consist of 66 dishes with a diameter of 12 and 7 meters that will image the sky at wavelengths from 3 mm to 9.6 mm. ALMA provides insight on star birth during the early universe as well as detailed imaging of local star and planet formation.