Project News

Warped Space-time to Help WFIRST Find Exoplanets

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • Project News • March 30th, 2020

To date, astronomers have found most planets when they pass in front of their host star in events called transits, which temporarily dim the star's light. WFIRST data can spot transits too, but the mission will primarily watch for microlensing.

NEOWISE 2020 Data Release

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • Project News • March 26th, 2020

The NEOWISE Reactivation 2020 Release adds approximately 2.5 million image sets and 18.7 billion source detections to the public archive. These data were acquired during the sixth year of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission.

NASA Approves Development of Universe-Studying, Planet-Finding Mission

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • Project News • March 2nd, 2020

NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) project has passed a critical programmatic and technical milestone, giving the mission the official green light to begin hardware development and testing.

SPHEREx celebrates one-year anniversary of selection

SPHEREx • News Release • February 13th, 2020

Our birthday! The SPHEREx team celebrated the one-year anniversary of selection with three cakes decorated in honor of the three SPHEREx science themes. They were lovingly baked by Project Manager Allen Farrington. There was disagreement within the team as to which was was the most delicious....

First Asteroid Found Inside Orbit of Venus

ZTF • News Release • January 15th, 2020

A rare asteroid orbiting snugly within the inner confines of our solar system has been discovered by Caltech's Zwicky Transient Facility, or ZTF, a survey camera based at Palomar Observatory. The newfound body, named 2020 AV2, is the first asteroid found to orbit entirely within the...

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First Asteroid Found Inside Orbit of Venus

ZTF • News Release • January 15th, 2020

Probing the Hubble Constant with NASA's WFIRST

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • Project News • January 10th, 2020

Discrepancies in the Hubble constant, which describes how fast the universe is expanding, have vexed astronomers for years. Values predicted from observations of the early universe simply don’t match up to measurements of the modern universe.

Simulated Image Demonstrates the Power of NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • Project News • January 7th, 2020

Imagine a fleet of 100 Hubble Space Telescopes, deployed in a strategic space-invader-shaped array a million miles from Earth, scanning the universe at warp speed.

High school teachers and students doing real astronomy research? Absolutely!

NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program • Project News • January 7th, 2020

Once again, nearly 30 teachers, students and astronomy educators from the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) will be attending the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), running from January 4 through January 8 in Honolulu, HI.

First national US observatory to be named after a woman

Vera C. Rubin Observatory • Project News • January 6th, 2020

It was announced today that the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will conduct a vast astronomical survey for unprecedented discovery of the deep and dynamic Universe, will now be named the NSF (National Science Foundation) Vera C. Rubin Observatory (Rubin Observatory).

Warped Space-time to Help WFIRST Find Exoplanets

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • March 30th, 2020

To date, astronomers have found most planets when they pass in front of their host star in events called transits, which temporarily dim the star's light. WFIRST data can spot...

NEOWISE 2020 Data Release

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • March 26th, 2020

The NEOWISE Reactivation 2020 Release adds approximately 2.5 million image sets and 18.7 billion source detections to the public archive. These data were acquired during the...

NASA Approves Development of Universe-Studying, Planet-Finding Mission

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • March 2nd, 2020

NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) project has passed a critical programmatic and technical milestone, giving the mission the official green light to begin...

SPHEREx celebrates one-year anniversary of selection

SPHEREx • February 13th, 2020

Our birthday! The SPHEREx team celebrated the one-year anniversary of selection with three cakes decorated in honor of the three SPHEREx science themes. They were lovingly baked...

First Asteroid Found Inside Orbit of Venus

ZTF • January 15th, 2020

A rare asteroid orbiting snugly within the inner confines of our solar system has been discovered by Caltech's Zwicky Transient Facility, or ZTF, a survey camera based at...

First Asteroid Found Inside Orbit of Venus

ZTF • January 15th, 2020

A rare asteroid orbiting snugly within the inner confines of our solar system has been discovered by Caltech's Zwicky Transient Facility, or ZTF, a survey camera based at...

Probing the Hubble Constant with NASA's WFIRST

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • January 10th, 2020

Discrepancies in the Hubble constant, which describes how fast the universe is expanding, have vexed astronomers for years. Values predicted from observations of the early...

Simulated Image Demonstrates the Power of NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope • January 7th, 2020

Imagine a fleet of 100 Hubble Space Telescopes, deployed in a strategic space-invader-shaped array a million miles from Earth, scanning the universe at warp speed.

High school teachers and students doing real astronomy research? Absolutely!

NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program • January 7th, 2020

Once again, nearly 30 teachers, students and astronomy educators from the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) will be attending the winter meeting of the...

First national US observatory to be named after a woman

Vera C. Rubin Observatory • January 6th, 2020

It was announced today that the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will conduct a vast astronomical survey for unprecedented discovery of the deep and...