Galaxies – NeRDs Moonbase

Hubble Comes Face-to-Face with Spiral’s Arms

May 9, 2025 NeRD

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News…

Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral

May 2, 2025 NeRD

NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Begins Capturing Entire Sky

May 1, 2025 NeRD

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, or wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength (3.29 microns), revealing a cloud of dust made of a molecule similar to soot or smoke. NASA/JPL-Caltech This image from NASA’s SPHEREx shows the same region of space in a different infrared wavelength (0.98 microns), but the dust cloud is no longer visible. The molecules that compose…

Our galactic neighbor Andromeda has a bunch of satellite galaxies — and they’re weirdly pointing at us

April 22, 2025 NeRD

Our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, or M31) appears to sport a lopsided arrangement of satellite galaxies that defy scientific models, stumping astronomers who are also trying to figure out why so many of this galaxy’s family members point in our direction. All but one of M31’s brightest 37 satellites are on the side of the Andromeda spiral that faces our Milky Way galaxy – the odd one out being Messier 110, which is easily visible in amateur images of the Andromeda Galaxy. “M31 is the only system that we…

NICER Status Updates

April 17, 2025 NeRD

April 17, 2025 Following Repair, NASA’s NICER Improves Daytime Measurements A NASA X-ray telescope on the International Space Station called NICER, or Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, has regained additional daytime observation capabilities thanks to repairs completed during a spacewalk and a reconfiguration of its detectors. In May 2023, NICER developed a light leak in which unwanted sunlight began entering the instrument. Photos taken from inside the space station revealed several small areas of damage to the telescope’s thin thermal shields, which block sunlight while allowing X-rays through to the…

Vast swarms of hidden galaxies may be secretly bathing the universe in a soft glow

April 17, 2025 NeRD

A secret population of hidden galaxies suffusing the universe in a soft glow of far-infrared light have been strongly suggested to exist, based on careful detective work into some of the most unique data to come from Europe’s Herschel Space Observatory. The galaxies, if they are real, are not necessarily a surprise. The cosmos is filled with light across all wavelengths — it’s just that the far-infrared component seems to be stronger than can be accounted for by all the galaxies we can see in visible light. In other words,…

Hubble Studies a Nearby Galaxy’s Star Formation

April 4, 2025 NeRD

NASA’s SPHEREx Takes First Images, Preps to Study Millions of Galaxies

April 1, 2025 NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s SPHEREx, which will map millions of galaxies across the entire sky, captured one of its first exposures March 27. The observatory’s six detectors each captured one of these uncalibrated images, to which visible-light colors have been added to represent infrared wavelengths. SPHEREx’s complete field of view spans the top three images; the same area of the sky is also captured in the bottom three images. NASA/JPL-Caltech Processed with rainbow hues to represent a range of infrared wavelengths, the…

Hubble Spots a Chance Alignment

March 28, 2025 NeRD

Hubble Spies a Spectacular Starburst Galaxy

March 8, 2025 NeRD