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The first few images from the Rubin Observatory have dropped, and there are more coming later today. A mosaic of 678 images taken over seven hours of observation shows the Trifid (top right in pink) and Lagoon (center) Nebulae. Image Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially unveiled its first images, and truly, it is going to be as revolutionary as people expect it to be. Thanks to its incredible eye on the cosmos, which is the largest digital camera in the world, the images are absolutely breathtaking – and we can’t even share...

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this striking image of a solar flare—a bright flash at the Sun’s center—on November 6, 2024. The image shows extreme ultraviolet light, highlighting the superheated material in the flare, which has been colorized in red. Credit: NASA/SDO On November 6, 2024, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a powerful solar flare, peaking at 8:40 a.m. ET. This flare, classified as an X2.3, is intense enough to potentially disrupt radio signals, navigation systems, and power grids on Earth. It also poses significant risks to astronauts and spacecraft operating in orbit. On November 6, 2024, NASA’s Solar Dynamics...

[Video] A camera at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii has captured an object as it burned up on re-entering Earth's atmosphere on 8 February. The Subaru-Asahi Star Camera, owned by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, recorded a time-lapse of the fireball blazing across the night sky, followed by smaller glowing streaks.

Gone in seconds.

The Arecibo Observatory's platform collapsed this morning due to structural failure. In mid-November, the National Science Foundation had announced that the Observatory would be dismantled because of the danger it posed.

The world-famous Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, known for helping scientists peer into deep space and listen for distant radio waves, is set to be decommissioned and demolished after engineers concluded that the facility’s structure is at risk of a collapse. While teams will try to salvage some parts of the observatory, the decommission will bring an end to the popular 57-year-old telescope, which has been featured in numerous films and television shows. The decision comes after two major cables failed at the facility within the last few months, causing significant damage to the observatory. The National Science Foundation (NSF),...

...looming 5,700 feet over L.A., is arguably one of the world's most important spots for scientific discovery: the Mount Wilson Observatory. Worryingly, the Bobcat Fire is charging right for it. Only 500 feet away as of Tuesday afternoon. And Edwin Hubble — yes that Hubble — used the 100-inch telescope to make an even bigger discovery. "Effectively [Edwin] Hubble discovered the universe in the 1920s up on Mt. Wilson," said John Mulchaey, director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, which owns the observatory. Scientists had long believed that the Milky Way was just about all there was to the universe...

On Monday (Aug. 10), an auxiliary cable supporting a platform that is suspended above the 1,000-foot-wide (300 meters) radio dish broke and crashed into the telescope's reflector panels, creating a gash in the dish measuring about 100 feet (30 m) long. In a news conference with reporters Friday (Aug. 14), Arecibo director Francisco Cordova said that 250 of the observatory's primary reflector dish panels were damaged, along with several support cables underneath the dish. But observatory officials have not yet fully assessed the extent of the damage or determined the cost of the repairs needed to get the 56-year-old radio...

At Arecibo, scientists conduct all sorts of work, from atmospheric and planetary science through to radio and radar astronomy and even searches for extraterrestrial intelligence, also known as SETI. The purpose of these observations are to determine the ways in which red dwarf stars, like Barnard’s Star, affect the habitability of their planets. Méndez was also planning to embark on a SETI project to detect extraterrestrial technosignatures (i.e. evidence of alien technology), which would have leveraged both past and future observations at Arecibo. All this now appears to be on hold. Méndez’s observations aren’t time critical, but others might be,...

The state of Hawaii on Thursday issued a notice to proceed for construction to start on the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope project on the Big Island after four “unauthorized structures” were removed from the areas near the telescope’s site on the summit of Mauna Kea. Construction on the long-delayed project could start as early as next month, which would be exactly 10 years after the telescope's international board selected the Hawaii site. The state’s agencies involved will work with TMT officials to determine the start date. The notice gives gives the contractors and workers involved in the construction authorization...

NASA Hubble's designers prepared for gyroscope failure by equipping the observatory with a backup. Unfortunately, when one of Hubble's gyroscopes conked out in early October, the backup didn't work as expected -- it was rotating too fast and hence won't be able to hold the telescope in place when it needs to stay still and lock in on a target. NASA has since been able to reduce its rotation rates and fix its issues by implementing an age-old fix for malfunctioning electronics: turning it off and on again. Back to science! @NASAHubble is well on its way to normal...

The mysterious 11-day closure of a New Mexico solar observatory stemmed from an FBI investigation of a janitor suspected of using the facility's wireless internet service to send and receive child pornography, federal court documents showed on Wednesday. The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, was evacuated without public explanation on Sept. 6, leading to a swirl of social media speculation and rumors driven by its proximity to two U.S. military installations and the town of Roswell. Approximately two hours away from the observatory by car, Roswell was the site of a famous 1947 sighting of unidentified flying objects...

Sunspot Solar Observatory is transitioning back to regular operations as of September 17th On September 6th, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) made the decision to temporarily vacate the Sunspot Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico as a precautionary measure while addressing a security issue. The facility closed down in an orderly fashion and is now re-opening. The residents that vacated their homes will be returning to the site, and all employees will return to work this week. AURA has been cooperating with an on-going law enforcement investigation of criminal...

UPDATE 9/12/18 4PM PST The issue may be related to Mercury (the metal, not the planet). On a tip from a science journalist friend who covers telescopes and who has been there, I verified the observatory uses a vat of liquid mercury as a float bearing for the giant solar telescope. According to an internal NSO/NMSU document, that bearing is “high-risk” during maintenance. If there was a major mercury spill, it might explain why the Feds are there, with FBI providing security. The amount of Mercury is said to be in the “tens of gallons” range, which is next to...

Puerto Rico's iconic Arecibo Observatory has sustained some significant damage from Hurricane Maria, officials reported today (Sept. 22). The storm hit the island as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday (Sept. 20) and left widespread destruction in its wake. Without power, phones or internet service, the Arecibo Observatory has been offline since the storm hit. The Arecibo Observatory houses the world's second-largest radio telescope. While the overall structure of the telescope is still standing, it sustained some pretty serious damage from Hurricane Maria, according to an update from the Universities Space Research Organization (USRA), which helps to operate the Arecibo Observatory. One telescope operator at Arecibo managed...

The National Science Foundation has not heard from staff at the iconic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria roared over the island. A spokeswoman for NSF, which owns the observatory, said the agency hadn't received any official communications from Arecibo since 8 a.m. Wednesday — before the eye of the storm passed over the telescope. Two of the groups that helps manage the observatory, SRI International and the Universities Space Research Association, also hadn't heard from their staff on site. One observatory staff member who weathered the storm in the town of Arecibo contacted the association via shortwave...

WELLINGTON (AFP) – An extraordinary underground observatory for subatomic particles has been completed in a huge cube of ice one kilometre on each side deep under the South Pole, researchers said. Building the IceCube, the world's largest neutrino observatory, has taken a gruelling decade of work in the Antarctic tundra and will help scientists study space particles in the search for dark matter, invisible material that makes up most of the Universe's mass. The observatory, located 1,400 metres underground near the US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, cost more than 270 million dollars, according to the US National Science Foundation (NSF)....

A powerful new solar observatory will spend the next five years recording images of the sun with 10 times better resolution than HD television, peering deep within the sun's layers to reveal just how solar storms erupt. The observations could help scientists build the first effective models for space weather forecasting. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is slated for launch on Feb. 10 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It carries three instruments that will pierce the mysteries enshrouding the sun's magnetic fields and ultraviolet radiation, which together help shape the Earth's atmosphere every day. "The unique...

Fr. Jose Funes S.J., director of the Vatican Observatory Vatican City, Nov 10, 2009 / 12:09 pm (CNA).- The Vatican Observatory and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences have just concluded a week-long gathering of scientists to examine the origin of life and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. “These questions offer many philosophical and theological implications,” said Fr. Jose Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory.After bringing their Nov. 6-10 talks to a close, four of the scientists held a press conference at the Holy See's press office on Tuesday.Participating in the press conference were Fr. Jose Funes S.J., director of...

Ancient radiation, the birth of the universe and the future of the galaxies around us: for Marco Bersanelli, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Milan, such mysteries are all in a day’s work.For the past 17 years Bersanelli has been a member of the science team of Europe’s recently launched Planck observatory, a telescope currently orbiting the sun 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in a mission to map traces of radiation left over from the Big Bang 14 billion years ago. Essentially, Planck is grabbing images of the universe’s earliest light and, hopefully, clues as to how the...