Space Telescope Science Institute

Mission Operations Center for the James Webb Space Telescope. Also operating science missions for the Hubble and upcoming Roman space telescopes.

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For the first time, Space Telescope Science Institute scientists observed a brightness gap in the population of red dwarf stars in an ancient, crowded globular star cluster. A similar gap was first identified in data from relatively nearby stars by the Gaia space observatory. However, it had never before been seen in a globular cluster. This gap provides clues to what’s happening deep within the stars’ interiors.

This finding would not have been possible without the software and techniques originally developed at STScI for the Hubble Space Telescope: https://news.stsci.edu/49x77d1

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For the first time on an interstellar visitor, the James Webb Space Telescope directly detected methane gas—a highly volatile molecule that likely remained buried beneath the comet’s surface until heat from its close pass to the Sun reached deeper layers.

Comet 3I/ATLAS also released far more carbon dioxide relative to water than typical solar system comets, supporting the idea that it formed in a very different chemical environment around another star. By breaking infrared light into its component wavelengths, Webb was able to identify the gases escaping from the comet and map where they’re concentrated, giving us a rare glimpse into the building blocks of an interstellar visitor: https://go.nasa.gov/4dHOaXp

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Looks like the giant space cat has stepped in something. 🐾

This image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula includes infrared light from the James Webb Space Telescope and X-rays from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (in pinkish purple). A mottled patch of pink at the center reveals young, million-year-old stars tucked behind thick, overlapping rings of dark orange cosmic dust.

Webb’s view reveals a chaotic scene still in development: Massive young stars are carving away at nearby gas and dust, while their bright starlight is producing a bright nebulous glow represented in blue.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/SAO/CXC; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major.

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Scientists measured the speed of gas orbiting a supermassive black hole that existed more than 13 billion years ago using the James Webb Space Telescope. Those measurements were then translated into sound.

Learn more about how Webb was used to make the first direct mass measurement of a black hole in the early universe, and how that measurement is changing our understanding of the origins of supermassive black holes: https://news.stsci.edu/4uwvH5Z

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Researchers have directly measured the mass of a black hole in a tiny galaxy that existed just 700 million years after the big bang using the James Webb Space Telescope. The 50-million-solar-mass black hole seems to predate its host galaxy, possibly forming within the first second after the big bang: https://news.stsci.edu/4uwvH5Z

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Galaxies in ultraviolet! 👀 The Hubble Space Telescope’s unique ability to capture high-resolution ultraviolet (UV) light is essential for observing the hottest, youngest stars and the energetic processes occurring within distant galaxies.

In this video, we look at galaxies that Hubble has observed in ultraviolet: NGC 1792, NGC 6984, NGC 3137, Messier 96, NGC 4571, NGC 685, Messier 74, NGC 7496, NGC 3511, and NGC 2566.

Credit: NASA/ESA/J. Barrientes (STScI).

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When galaxies collide, the result can be unexpectedly calm. NGC 3256, seen by the James Webb Space Telescope, is the aftermath of a collision that occurred around 500 million years ago.

As the space between stars within galaxies is vast, much of the collision actually takes place between clouds of dust and gas. Those collisions compress those clouds and create the perfect conditions for new stars to form. Many of the stars pass each other and scatter about after the collision, appearing here as a smoky haze around the galaxy, which is in the midst of transformation.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, L. Armus, A. Evans.

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Galaxies in ultraviolet! 👀 The Hubble Space Telescope’s unique ability to capture high-resolution ultraviolet (UV) light is essential for observing the hottest, youngest stars and the energetic processes occurring within distant galaxies.

In this video, we look at galaxies that Hubble has observed in ultraviolet: NGC 1792, NGC 6984, NGC 3137, Messier 96, NGC 4571, NGC 685, Messier 74, NGC 7496, NGC 3511, and NGC 2566.

Credit: NASA/ESA/J. Barrientes (STScI).

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Did the Red Spider Nebula, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, catch your attention? 🕷️

Webb’s near-infrared observation reveals never-seen-before details, including the extent of the nebula’s blue lobes. The lobes, which are the spider’s “legs,” highlight molecular hydrogen gas. Each of these cavernous-like bubbles extend three light-years across. The gas in the nebula’s center is expanding outward, forming these loops and sculpting the nebula’s overall shape.

The main body of the spider, the bright star in the center, shines in near-infrared light. Astronomers think an undetected companion star may be present within the nebula’s body, which could explain why the Red Spider Nebula has a pinched, elongated shape.

Credit: ESA, NASA, CSA, J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology).

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Zoom in on the Milky Way’s galactic bulge, a densely packed region of stars that also houses our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Its crowded field of view is useful for detecting objects, typically stars, that pass between us and the bulge using a phenomenon known as microlensing. In this process, an intervening object warps the light from a background star in the bulge. Astronomers theorize that this technique will reveal more than a thousand new exoplanets, some free-floating and some orbiting stars.

A team of astronomers utilized the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the same region that the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will in its Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, which will enable a more thorough analysis of these microlensing events.

Credit: NASA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Sean Terry (UMD), Jay Anderson (STScI), 2MASS, IPAC/CALTECH, ESO, VVV Survey, Dante Minniti (UNAB), Ignacio Toledo (ALMA), Martin Kornmesser (ESO).

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Located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, NGC 346 is a region of star formation seen here in Hubble Space Telescope visible light data (red, green, and blue) and Chandra observatory X-rays (pinkish purple).

The large, neon-pink X-ray cloud hangs in the upper right, representing the high-energy environment of stars roughly 1 to 3 million years old. The dark blue background is scattered with orange and white stellar specks and hazy streaks of gas and dust.

NGC 346 is home to more than 2,500 newborn stars. The cluster’s most massive stars, which are many times more massive than our Sun, blaze with an intense blue light in this image.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: ESA/Hubble and NASA, A. Nota, P. Massey, E. Sabbi, C. Murray, M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble); Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare.

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Hidden neutron stars may soon come into view with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

These ultra-dense stellar remnants are often nearly impossible to detect on their own. But when one passes in front of a distant star, its gravity bends the distant star's light, making it appear brighter and slightly shifted in position, a phenomenon known as gravitational microlensing.

Roman will measure both the apparent brightening and the tiny positional shift of these background stars with unprecedented precision, allowing astronomers to not only detect isolated neutron stars, but possibly determine their weight.

With the potential to uncover dozens of these elusive objects, Roman may help answer fundamental questions about their nature: https://news.stsci.edu/4tbngfe

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Dr. Jennifer Lotz, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, was recently elected a 2025 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a fellow is a lifetime honor bestowed upon select AAAS members by their peers for their efforts to advance science or its applications.

Dr. Lotz is being honored for distinguished leadership and scientific contributions to astronomy, including insights about the early universe learned from the groundbreaking Hubble Frontier Fields program: https://news.stsci.edu/4cXTcxA

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As NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy, the late Dr. Nancy Grace Roman paved the way for space telescopes and for women in the sciences. She is credited with making the Hubble Space Telescope a reality.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a groundbreaking, wide-field survey telescope named in her honor, will launch as soon as early September and greatly expand our view of the universe.

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Take a breath with images from the James Webb Space Telescope, from nebulas to galaxies. Share the calming vibes of the universe in infrared. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI.

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Take a breath with images from the James Webb Space Telescope, from nebulas to galaxies. Share the calming vibes of the universe in infrared. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI.

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Peer beyond the James Webb Space Telescope's stunning images and into the data that drives discovery. About 75% of Webb's observations produce a powerful type of data called spectra. Spectra are created by separating light into its many colors.

While human eyes can see a narrow range of colors called visible light, Webb's instruments detect mostly infrared light, which can pass through dust and reveals objects too cool or distant to shine with visible light. This allows scientists to identify chemical fingerprints and reveal details about the cosmos we’ve never seen before.

In this video, learn how spectra are behind some of Webb's most exciting discoveries.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; D. Kirshenblat, L. Hustak (STScI).