Webb Telescopes view face-on of spiral galaxy NGC 4254.
Webb launches on a cloudy day from an Arianne 5 rocket. The image shows the rocket just lifting off the pad with a plume of orange fire and a plume grey blue smoke extending well to the right against a slate blue sky.

Webb Telescope Latest News

Webb's latest news releases in reverse chronological order going back to 2012.

Cheers! NASA’s Webb Finds Ethanol, Other Icy Ingredients for Worlds

5 min read

Editor’s Note: This article was updated March 13, 2024, to clarify the likelihood that chemicals found around IRAS 2A were present in the first stages of development of our solar system. What do margaritas, vinegar, and ant stings have in…

NASA’s Roman Team Selects Survey to Map Our Galaxy’s Far Side

7 min read

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has announced plans for an unprecedented survey of the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. It will peer deeper into this region than any other survey, mapping more of our galaxy’s stars than…

NASA’s Webb, Hubble Telescopes Affirm Universe’s Expansion Rate, Puzzle Persists

6 min read

NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope have tag-teamed to produce definitive measurements of the universe's expansion rate.

Peering Into the Tendrils of NGC 604 with NASA’s Webb

4 min read

The formation of stars and the chaotic environments they inhabit is one of the most well-studied, but also mystery-shrouded, areas of cosmic investigation. The intricacies of these processes are now being unveiled like never before by NASA’s James Webb Space…

What Are Hubble and Webb Observing Right Now? NASA Tool Has the Answer

4 min read

It’s not hard to find out what NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have observed in the past. Barely a week goes by without news of a cosmic discovery made possible using images, spectra, and other data captured by NASA’s…

Webb Unlocks Secrets of One of the Most Distant Galaxies Ever Seen

5 min read

Looking deeply into space and time, two teams using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have studied the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11, which existed when our 13.8 billion-year-old universe was only about 430 million years old. Initially detected with NASA’s Hubble…

Webb Finds Evidence for Neutron Star at Heart of Young Supernova Remnant

5 min read

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a recently observed supernova. The supernova, known as SN 1987A, was a core-collapse supernova, meaning the compacted remains at…

NASA Astronomer Sees Power in Community, Works to Build More

5 min read

Science is often portrayed as a solitary affair, where discoveries are made by lone geniuses toiling in isolation. But Dr. Natasha Batalha, an astronomer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, says solving problems with the people around…

What is Dark Energy? Inside our accelerating, expanding Universe

11 min read

Some 13.8 billion years ago, the universe began with a rapid expansion we call the big bang. After this initial expansion, which lasted a fraction of a second, gravity started to slow the universe down. But the cosmos wouldn’t stay…

Discovery Alert: A ‘Super-Earth’ in the Habitable Zone

4 min read

A newly discovered 'super-Earth' dwells in the habitable zone of its parent star – and might have a roughly Earth-sized companion.

NASA’s Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies

6 min read

It’s oh-so-easy to be absolutely mesmerized by these spiral galaxies. Follow their clearly defined arms, which are brimming with stars, to their centers, where there may be old star clusters and – sometimes – active supermassive black holes. Only NASA’s…

How NASA Chases and Investigates Bright Cosmic Blips

9 min read

Stephen Lesage’s phone started vibrating just after halftime on Oct. 9, 2022, while he was watching a soccer game in Atlanta with a friend. When Lesage saw the incoming messages, the match no longer seemed important. There had been a…

New U.S. Postal Service Stamps Feature Iconic NASA Webb Images

3 min read

The U.S. Postal Service has issued two new Priority Mail stamps celebrating NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the largest, most powerful, and most complex telescope ever put in space. The stamps, issued Jan. 22, feature images of the cosmos captured…

Webb Shows Many Early Galaxies Looked Like Pool Noodles, Surfboards

7 min read

Researchers analyzing images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and elongated, like surfboards and pool noodles – and are rarely round, like volleyballs or frisbees. “Roughly 50 to 80%…

NASA’s Webb Discovers Dusty ‘Cat’s Tail’ in Beta Pictoris System

9 min read

Beta Pictoris, a young planetary system located just 63 light-years away, continues to intrigue scientists even after decades of in-depth study. It possesses the first dust disk imaged around another star — a disk of debris produced by collisions between…

NASA’s Webb Finds Signs of Possible Aurorae on Isolated Brown Dwarf

8 min read

Infrared emission from methane suggests atmospheric heating by auroral processes. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found a brown dwarf (an object more massive than Jupiter but smaller than a star) with infrared emission from methane, likely due…

NASA Features New Discoveries at American Astronomical Society Meeting

5 min read

Experts will discuss new research from NASA missions at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), on topics ranging from planets outside our solar system to fleeting, high-energy explosions in the universe. The meeting will take place Jan.…

A Look Through Time with NASA’s Lead Photographer for the James Webb Space Telescope

2 min read

Nearly two years ago in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope successfully took flight from the jungle-encircled ELA-3 launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana. Following a successful deployment in space, and…

Meet the Infrared Telescopes That Paved the Way for NASA’s Webb

8 min read

The Webb telescope has opened a new window onto the universe, but it builds on missions going back 40 years, including Spitzer and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. On Dec. 25, NASA will celebrate the two-year launch anniversary of the James…

NASA’s Webb Rings in Holidays With Ringed Planet Uranus

5 min read

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently trained its sights on unusual and enigmatic Uranus, an ice giant that spins on its side. Webb captured this dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, and other atmospheric features – including a seasonal polar…

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