Stars, Galaxies, and Dark Matter
What objects and materials make up the universe, and how do we study the invisible as well as the visible?
Data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory are used to create a map of dark matter (blue) in galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745.
Credit:
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland/D.Ha & NASA/CXC/Durham Univ/R.Massey; Optical & Lensing Map: NASA, ESA, D. Harvey (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland) and R. Massey (Durham University, UK)
Galactic Collisions
What are galaxies; how do they vary; and how do they form, interact, and change over time?
The Penguin and the Egg (Arp 142) is a pair of galaxies that are being distorted by their mutual gravitational attraction.
Credit:
NASA-ESA/STScI/AURA/JPL-Caltech
The Solar System
How do the Sun, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids interact as a system?
Saturn’s moon Titan casts a shadow as it passes between the planet and the Sun.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The Night Sky
How do telescopes help us better understand the objects and materials that light up the sky?
With telescopes, we can see details of the Milky Way, including glowing clouds of dust and gas like the Lobster Nebula.
Credit:
NASA/CXC/PSU/L. Townsley; UKIRT; NASA/JPL-Caltech
Expansion and Fate of the Universe
How fast is the universe expanding and what does this tell us about its past and future?
Over time, space expands, stretching the wavelenghts of light and causing the distant galaxies seen in the Ultra Deep Field image from the Hubble Space Telescope to look redder than the closer galaxies.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, B. Mobasher (STScI/ESA)
Detecting Exoplanets
How do we detect and study planets orbiting other stars?
Changes in the brightness of starlight, measured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, indicates the presence of a planet orbiting the star.
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Death of Stars
What happens to stars at the end of their lives, and how do stellar explosions affect the space around them?
Visible, infrared, and X-ray light from supernova remnant Cassiopeia A reveal remains of an exploded star.
Credit:
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Steward/O. Krause et al.
Gravitational Lensing
How can we use interactions between light and matter to probe the deep universe?
The enormous mass of galaxy cluster Abell 370 bends the space around it, magnifying and distorting the light from more distant galaxies into arc-like streaks.
Credit:
NASA, ESA/Hubble, HST Frontier Field
Multi-Wavelength and Multi-Messenger Astronomy
How are astronomers combining data from space and ground-based telescopes, particle detectors, and
gravitational wave detectors to understand cosmic objects, processes, and events?
An artist’s illustration depicts the detection of neutrino particles and gamma rays emitted by a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy.
Credit:
IceCube/NASA
Starbirth and Cosmic Erosion
How and where do stars form, and how do they shape their surroundings?
Pillars of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula are sculpted and illuminated by stellar winds and high-energy radiation of bright stars.
Credit:
NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team
Natural Hazards
How can we use satellites to map, study, and monitor Earth’s land surface, oceans, and atmosphere?
An image captured by the Landsat 8 satellite in May 2018 shows active lava flows from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.
Credit:
NASA Earth Observatory, USGS
Origin and History of the Universe
What evidence supports our theories of how the universe formed and how it has evolved over time?
A map of the sky from the Planck Space Telescope highlights variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation—energy left over from the big bang some 13.8 billion years ago.
Credit:
ESA and the Planck Collaboration
Telescope and Satellite Technology
What tools and methods do scientists use to study Earth and space?
NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) helps scientists monitor droughts, predict floods, and improve farm productivity.
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Worlds Beyond our Solar System
Is Earth unique? Are we alone?
Observations from space telescopes have revealed thousands of exoplanets of different of sizes, compositions, temperatures, and atmospheres, including seven rocky Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, 40 light-years from Earth (artist’s illustration).
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt, T. Pyle (IPAC)
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Massey (Durham University, UK)", :alt=>"Field of scattered galaxies overlaid with large semi-transparent areas of blue and pink"}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/02-penguine-egg@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Galactic Collisions", :subtitle=>"What are galaxies; how do they vary; and how do they form, interact, and change over time?", :caption=>"The Penguin and the Egg (Arp 142) is a pair of galaxies that are being distorted by their mutual gravitational attraction.", :credits=>"NASA-ESA/STScI/AURA/JPL-Caltech", :alt=>"A distorted galaxy arches over a hazy blue oval galaxy, appearing like a bird hovering over its egg"}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/03-saturn@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"The Solar System", :subtitle=>"How do the Sun, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids interact as a system?", :caption=>"Saturn’s moon Titan casts a shadow as it passes between the planet and the Sun.", :credits=>"NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)", :alt=>"Bright Saturn tilted slightly right, with Titan in upper northern hemisphere"}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/04-a-dark-constellations@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"The Night Sky", :subtitle=>"How do telescopes help us better understand the objects and materials that light up the sky?", :caption=>"With telescopes, we can see details of the Milky Way, including glowing clouds of dust and gas like the Lobster Nebula.", :credits=>"NASA/CXC/PSU/L. Townsley; UKIRT; NASA/JPL-Caltech", :alt=>"Milky Way curves across the sky, with outline of a fox appearing at the top of the arch. Line from the fox leads to inset box with telescope image of the Lobster Nebula"}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/08-hudf@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Expansion and Fate of the Universe", :subtitle=>"How fast is the universe expanding and what does this tell us about its past and future?", :caption=>"Over time, space expands, stretching the wavelenghts of light and causing the distant galaxies seen in the Ultra Deep Field image from the Hubble Space Telescope to look redder than the closer galaxies.", :credits=>"NASA, ESA, B. Mobasher (STScI/ESA)", :alt=>"Black space scattered with many points of light, some with clear galaxy shapes, and others just appearing as dots"}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/05-exoplanet-data@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Detecting Exoplanets", :subtitle=>"How do we detect and study planets orbiting other stars?", :caption=>"Changes in the brightness of starlight, measured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, indicates the presence of a planet orbiting the star.", :credits=>"NASA/JPL-Caltech", :alt=>"Graphic titled \"Infrared Light Curve for the Transiting Exoplanet HD 219134b\" showing a graph of observed star brightness on the y-axis versus elapsed time in days on the x-axis. A number of data points, plotted in orange, show a dip in brightness. In the background is an illustration of a star with a planet crossing in front of it. The dip in brightness shown on the graph corresponds to times when the planet is moving across the star."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/06-supernova@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"The Death of Stars", :subtitle=>"What happens to stars at the end of their lives, and how do stellar explosions affect the space around them?", :caption=>"Visible, infrared, and X-ray light from supernova remnant Cassiopeia A reveal remains of an exploded star.", :credits=>"X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Steward/O. Krause et al.", :alt=>"Large, colorful, semi-transparent circular object on a background of space scattered with small orange points of light. The large object has a complex cloudy and filamentous texture, with regions of blue, green, orange-yellow, and red-purple."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/04-gravitational-lensing@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Gravitational Lensing", :subtitle=>"How can we use interactions between light and matter to probe the deep universe?", :caption=>"The enormous mass of galaxy cluster Abell 370 bends the space around it, magnifying and distorting the light from more distant galaxies into arc-like streaks.", :credits=>"NASA, ESA/Hubble, HST Frontier Field", :alt=>"Many bright white, yellow, orange and blue galaxies of different shapes and sizes. Several of these galaxies have arc-like shapes."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/09-multi-messenger@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Multi-Wavelength and Multi-Messenger Astronomy", :subtitle=>"How are astronomers combining data from space and ground-based telescopes, particle detectors, and\n gravitational wave detectors to understand cosmic objects, processes, and events?", :caption=>"An artist’s illustration depicts the detection of neutrino particles and gamma rays emitted by a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy.", :credits=>"IceCube/NASA", :alt=>"A supermassive black hole emitting neutrinos and gamma rays. The top right of the image shows a bright object, which is the black hole, surrounded by a disc of black and orange gas and dust. An orange beam shoots toward a planet at the bottom left of the image. The beam contains lambda and gamma symbols."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/EagleNebula_Hubble@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Starbirth and Cosmic Erosion", :subtitle=>"How and where do stars form, and how do they shape their surroundings?", :caption=>"Pillars of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula are sculpted and illuminated by stellar winds and high-energy radiation of bright stars.", :credits=>"NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team", :alt=>"Pillars of gas and dust. Toward the center of the image are three dark brown pillars that rise from the bottom to the top of the screen. The leftmost pillar is the tallest, the rightmost pillar is the shortest, and the middle one is in-between left and right in size. Surrounding each pillar is an aura of glowing, yellow gas. The background is opaque, blue and purple at the top, and contains handful of red stars of various sizes."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/hawaii@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Natural Hazards", :subtitle=>"How can we use satellites to map, study, and monitor Earth’s land surface, oceans, and atmosphere?", :caption=>"An image captured by the Landsat 8 satellite in May 2018 shows active lava flows from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.", :credits=>"NASA Earth Observatory, USGS", :alt=>"Satellite image of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. The island containing the volcano is a mix of green and brown, and it has a perimeter going from the bottom left of the image to the top right of the image. Outside of that perimeter is water, which has a blue color. Shadows are cast on the land and water by clouds, which have a white color, that float above."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/planck-img_2.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Origin and History of the Universe", :subtitle=>"What evidence supports our theories of how the universe formed and how it has evolved over time?", :caption=>"A map of the sky from the Planck Space Telescope highlights variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation—energy left over from the big bang some 13.8 billion years ago.", :credits=>"ESA and the Planck Collaboration", :alt=>"Large oval fills most of the scene. The edges are black. The oval is mottled with blue and orange spots."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/13-smap@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Telescope and Satellite Technology", :subtitle=>"What tools and methods do scientists use to study Earth and space?", :caption=>"NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) helps scientists monitor droughts, predict floods, and improve farm productivity.", :credits=>"NASA/JPL-Caltech", :alt=>"Top half is the black background of space. Earth appears in the lower half, with its curvature splitting the scene. A satellite appears at top center. Small white circles appear where the satellite has mapped locations on Earth, appearing in a curved row. The one on the right looks like a spotlight that connects to the satellite that appears above."}}, {:image=>"home-about/collection/gallery/14-trappist@1x.webp", :details=>{:title=>"Worlds Beyond our Solar System", :subtitle=>"Is Earth unique? Are we alone?", :caption=>"Observations from space telescopes have revealed thousands of exoplanets of different of sizes, compositions, temperatures, and atmospheres, including seven rocky Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, 40 light-years from Earth (artist’s illustration).", :credits=>"NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt, T. Pyle (IPAC)", :alt=>"Illustration of seven planets close to one another against a black background that is speckled with stars."}}]
