10 December 2021
SpaceX launches NASA's IXPE mission
...the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE observatory is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the... X-ray Observatory, NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope. First light operations are scheduled to begin in January. NASA ...
20 September 2018
TESS finds its first exoplanet – a super-Earth 60 light years away
... about how they form. Meanwhile, TESS is busy sweeping the skies for more exciting discoveries. Its “first light” science image (below) that the satellite relayed back is a stunning vista of the southern sky that includes...
June 2018
Publish or perish: the astronomer’s dilemma
... of values two opposite notions of science emerge. The first is the ‘ideal’ image of science, where astronomers are...) station at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile achieved first light in July 2017. This new facility will seek out transiting...
15 April 2018
TESS, NASA's planet-finding mission launches today!
... a high-Earth orbit (HEO) is TESS, the first-ever spaceborne all-sky transit survey whose primary mission is ... procedures will then follow in order to get TESS on its way. “First light of the instruments will be about 8 days after (TESS) has launched ...
18 November 2020
Astronomers want to revive idea for ‘Ultimately Large Telescope’ on the Moon
... time, when galaxies did not yet exist, but where individual stars first formed — the elusive Population III stars. This moment of ‘very first light’ is beyond the capabilities even of the powerful JWST, and instead needs...
