ESAHubble Announcements

Announcement of the 2026 ESA Hubble and Webb Calendar

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0100

To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar for 2026 that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions.

The 2026 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2025. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below).

The images featured in the calendar are as follows:

Cover: IRAS 04302+2247 is a planet-forming disc located about 525 light-years away in a dark cloud within the Taurus star-forming region. This beautiful Webb image shows an example of a protostar (a young star that is still gathering mass from its environment) surrounded by a protoplanetary disc in which baby planets might be forming.

January:.As part of Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations, ESA/Hubble published a new image of the star cluster NGC 346, featuring new data and processing techniques. This prolific star factory is in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the largest of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies.

February: This image from Webb features a mega-monster galaxy cluster known as Abell S1063, lying 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus. The dense collection of heavy galaxies is surrounded by glowing streaks of light, and these warped arcs demonstrate gravitational lensing.

March: To celebrate Webb’s third year of highly productive science in July 2025, astronomers used the telescope to scratch beyond the surface of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive, local star-forming region.

April: ESA/Hubble revisited the star cluster Messier 72 in April 2025 to celebrate Hubble’s 35th anniversary with new data and image processing techniques. This is a particularly special target because it was the first image ever published in the ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week series in April of 2010.

May: In these Webb images taken in December 2023, our Solar System’s largest planet shows off new details in its auroras (shown in the left image), which are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth.

June: Called Pismis 24, this young star cluster resides in the core of the nearby Lobster Nebula, approximately 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Home to a vibrant stellar nursery and one of the closest sites of massive star birth, Webb provides us with rare insights into large and massive stars.

July: Located around 30 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, this Hubble image features the Sombrero Galaxy. Viewed nearly edge on, the galaxy’s softly luminous bulge and sharply outlined disc resemble the rounded crown and broad brim of the Mexican hat from which the galaxy gets its name.

August: This image set showcases three views of the Butterfly Nebula, also called NGC 6302. The first and second of the three images shown feature the nebula in optical and near-infrared light captured by Hubble. The Webb image on the right zooms in on the object’s centre.

September: This image was shared by ESA/Hubble as part of Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations and incorporates new data processing techniques. It shows a small portion of the Eagle Nebula that is 9.5 light-years long and 7,000 light-years away from Earth. This vast stellar nursery displays a towering spire of cosmic gas and dust.

October: Hubble captures in exquisite detail a face-on view of the remarkable-looking galaxy NGC 5335 in this image. This is a flocculent spiral galaxy with patchy streamers of star formation across its disc. A notable bar structure slices across the center of the galaxy.

November: This image shows Webb’s view of the planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared. It highlights a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out at different angles from a dying star at the centre of the scene. These outflows push gas toward the equatorial plane, forming a disc.

December:A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this Hubble image. This galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe).

Back Page: This Hubble image captures incredible details in the dusty clouds in the outskirts of a star-forming region called the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is located about 160 000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the dozens of small satellite galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.

Please note that hard copies are not available directly from ESA/Hubble/Webb. We invite you to avail yourself of the free calendar formats below.

Hubble’s 35th anniversary public celebrations in Europe

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0100

In April 2025, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be celebrating its 35th anniversary. To celebrate how the Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the Universe, ESA/Hubble invited proposals from organisations, institutions, and groups across Europe to maximise the reach and impact of this milestone with special events.

Public events will be held on and around April 24th 2025 in various ESA member states to celebrate this special milestone with their respective communities and to showcase a selection of special new Hubble images from the dedicated ESA/Hubble 35th anniversary celebration series that will be provided to event organisers with exclusive early access. The list of chosen host institutions is provided below:

Stichting Volkssterrenwacht Philippus Lansbergen
Middelburg, the Netherlands
Contact: Rijk-Jan Koppejan: sterrenwacht@zeelandnet.nl

Bender Makerspace / CC Binder / Municipality Puurs-Sint-Amands
Puurs-Sint-Amands, Belgium
Contact: Davy Van den Bergh: info@fablabkleinbrabant.be

Société d'Astronomie Populaire de la Côte Basque
Anglet, France
Contact: Beauchamp Philippe: contact@astrobasque.com or https://www.astrobasque.com/

Orionis, Planétarium Douaisis Agglo
Douai, France
Contact: Didier Schreiner (Orionis Director) - dschreiner@douaisis-agglo.com or https://www.planetarium-orionis.com/ and Valérie DUBUCHE - Club Astronomie MJC DOUAI - astronomie@mjcdouai.fr

La Coupole, History Centre and 3D Planetarium
Wizernes, France
Contact: Nicolas Fiolet: nfiolet@lacoupole.com or www.lacoupole-france.com

UPS in Space
Toulouse, France
Contact: Jean Kellens: presidence@upsinspace.com or upsinspace.com

Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology
Kulionys, Lithuania
Contact: Gintare Prosceviciute: gintare@lemuziejus.lt or etnokosmomuziejus.lt/

UC Exploratório - Centro Ciência Viva da Universidade de Coimbra
Coimbra, Portugal
Contact: Dário Fonseca: dfonseca@exploratorio.pt or www.exploratorio.pt

Museum of Astronomical Sciences Baia Mare
Baia Mare, Romania
Contact: Ovidiu Ignat: planetariubm@gmail.com or http://www.planetariubm.ro/

South Downs Planetarium & Science Centre
Chichester, United Kingdom
Contact: Dr. John Mason: sdownsplanet@proton.me

National Space Centre
Leicester, United Kingdom
Contact: Dhara Patel: dharap@spacecentre.co.uk

If there are other interested institutions that wish to participate in these celebrations, please contact info@esahubble.org.

Announcement of the ESA/Hubble 35th anniversary calendar

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0100

On 24 April 1990, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was sent into orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery as the first space telescope of its kind. An incredible 35 years later, Hubble is more active and productive than ever. Each year of its mission has been marked by a breathtaking image newly released for the occasion.

Now, ESA/Hubble is releasing a commemorative calendar for 2025, “Highlights from 35 Years of Discovery”, that looks back over a small selection of these anniversary images, taking us through the history and the highlights of the work done with Hubble.

The calendar features images from a selection of past anniversaries between 1998 and 2024. These include imagery of nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below).

The images featured in the calendar are as follows:

Cover: The glittering tapestry of young stars flaring to life in this image aptly resembles an exploding shell in a fireworks display. A giant cluster of about 3000 stars called Westerlund 2, it contains some of the brightest, hottest and most massive stars ever discovered. Their fierce radiation and powerful winds are responsible for the weird and wonderful shapes of the clouds of gas and dust in this image.

January: Also known as NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula is an emission nebula located 8 000 light-years away. The almost perfectly symmetrical shell is the result of a powerful flow of gas — known as stellar wind — from the bright star visible just to the left of centre.

February: The galaxy NGC 4298 is seen almost face-on, showing us its spiral arms, blue patches of ongoing star formation and young stars. In the edge-on disc of NGC 4302, huge swathes of dust are responsible for the mottled brown patterns. Both are 55 million light-years away.

March: This amazing and colourful image shows the Lagoon Nebula. The whole nebula, about 4 000 light-years away, is an incredible 55 light-years wide and 20 light-years tall. This image shows only a small part of this turbulent star-formation region, about four light-years across.

April: M76, the colourful Little Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula created by a collapsing red giant star. Hot, vibrant gases are propelled outwards by the now white-dwarf’s stellar winds; the red colour is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen.

May: This image of Saturn, taken in 1998 with the then-new Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), shows the planet's reflected infrared light. This view provides detailed information on the clouds and hazes in Saturn's atmosphere: different colours represent several wavelengths of infrared light reflected from various cloud layers.

June: Messier 82 is a galaxy remarkable for the webs of shredded clouds and flame-like plumes of glowing hydrogen blasting out from its central regions. A starburst galaxy, throughout its central region young stars are being born ten times faster than in our Milky Way galaxy.

July: This image features the star-forming nebula NGC 1333 in the Perseus molecular cloud. Hubble’s colourful view, showcasing its unique ability to obtain images in light from ultraviolet to near-infrared, unveils an effervescent cauldron of gases and dust stirred up by newly forming stars within the dark cloud.

August: This menagerie — named the Hickson Compact Group 40 — includes three spiral-shaped galaxies, an elliptical galaxy and a lenticular (lens-like) galaxy. Somehow, these different galaxies have crossed paths to create an exceptionally crowded and eclectic galaxy sampler. This snapshot shows them falling together before their inevitable merger.

September: This image is one of the most photogenic examples of the many turbulent stellar nurseries the Hubble Space Telescope has observed during its 35-year lifetime. The portrait features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020, which together form part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

October: Mystic Mountain, this scene of a turbulent cosmic pinnacle in the Carina Nebula, has become one of Hubble’s most famous and enduring images since its release. Even more dramatic than fiction, it captures the chaotic activity atop a pillar of gas and dust, three light-years tall, which is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars.

November: The interaction between a pair of stars at its centre, a red giant and a white dwarf, causes eruptions of material which become the delicate form of the Southern Crab Nebula. Hubble images revealed the details of the nebula’s nested inner structure for the first time.

December: The giant star in this image is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction. Called AG Carinae, it’s surrounded by an expanding shell of gas and dust — a nebula, about five light-years wide — that is shaped by the powerful winds of the star.

Please note that hard copies are not available directly from ESA/Hubble. We invite you to avail yourself of the free calendar formats below.

Announcement of the 2025 ESA Hubble and Webb Calendar

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0100

To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar for 2025 that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions.

The 2025 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2024. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below).

The images featured in the calendar are as follows:

Cover: Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud lies the young star cluster NGC 602 where star formation is ongoing. This image highlights the cluster stars, the young stellar objects, and the surrounding gas and dust ridges, while also showing background galaxies and other stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud.

January: The giant planet Jupiter, in all its banded glory, is revisited by Hubble in this image taken on 6 January 2024. A pair of battling storms are visible right of centre, a deep red cyclone and a reddish anticyclone. To the left of the planet its volcanic moon Io appears.

February: This sharpest-ever infrared view of the famous Horsehead Nebula from Webb shows the depth and complexity of the thick clumps of material like never before. Also featured are Hubble’s 23rd anniversary image, and one of the first images from ESA’s Euclid telescope.

March: The two bright ‘eyes’ and semi-circular ‘smile’ in the Webb image of this spiral galaxy are the result of an off-centre collision by the elliptical galaxy now seen here to its left. A tenuous gas bridge runs between the galaxies, together known as Arp 107.

May: This is NGC 5253, a starburst galaxy filled with extraordinary star clusters and continually forming stars. Hubble’s image reveals super star clusters lurking in its core amongst dark dust clouds. As a dwarf galaxy, it resembles ancient galaxies and is a laboratory to study star and galaxy evolution.

June: Among the many massive galaxies of the lensing galaxy cluster shown here, SPT-CL J0615−5746, lies the Cosmic Gems arc. An infant galaxy from just 460 million years after the Big Bang, it is visible thanks to strong gravitational lensing by the cluster. Astronomers are using Webb to map its inner workings.

July: R Aquarii is a binary star system surrounded by a large, dynamic nebula. Outbursts eject powerful jets, forming loops and trails as plasma emerges in streamers. They are energised by blistering radiation from the stellar duo to glow in visible light.

August: A stunning mosaic of images from Webb showcases the nearby star-forming cluster, NGC 1333, in the Perseus molecular cloud. Large patches of orange represent gas glowing in the infrared as ionised material ejected from young stars collides with the surrounding cloud. They are hallmarks of a very active site of star formation.

September: Omega Centauri is the brightest, largest, and most massive Milky Way globular cluster known. This image shows the depth and extent of its population of stars. In 2024 astronomers found new evidence in Hubble data that it hides an intermediate-mass black hole at its centre.

October: The Serpens Nebula is home to a particularly dense cluster of newly forming stars. This Webb image shows the nebula’s centre. Filaments and wisps of different hues represent reflected starlight from still-forming protostars within the cloud; dust in front of that reflection appears in an orange, diffuse shade.

November: Hubble continued its long run of capturing beautiful celestial objects in fine colour and detail in 2024, and this year as ever, many were spiral galaxies. Seen here are NGC 4951, NGC 3810, NGC 3783 and Messier 90, gems from a treasure trove of new Hubble observations.

December: Westerlund 1 is one of our galaxy’s few remaining super star clusters. Its large, dense, and diverse population of massive stars is unrivalled in the Milky Way galaxy. Webb can pierce the dense dust surrounding it and study its population of lower-mass stars.

Please note that hard copies are not available directly from ESA/Hubble/Webb. We invite you to avail yourself of the free calendar formats below.

Celebrate Hubble’s 35th anniversary with ESA/Hubble!

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 18:00:00 +0200

In April 2025, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be celebrating its 35th anniversary.

Since its launch in 1990 Hubble has made 1.6 million observations of over 53 000 astronomical objects. To date, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland holds 184 terabytes of processed data that are science-ready for use by astronomers around the world to use for research and analysis. A European mirror of the public data is hosted at ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), in the European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) Science Archive.

To celebrate how the Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the Universe, ESA/Hubble is inviting proposals from organisations, institutions, and groups across Europe to maximise the reach and impact of this milestone with special events.

In order to submit an application, the applicant (on behalf of the associated group or institution) must agree to the following::

The event(s) must be free and open to the public
The event(s) would ideally held around the date of Hubble’s 35th anniversary (24 April 2025)
Celebratory Hubble content should be creatively displayed to reach a wide audience. For example, the products may be featured in museums and science centres, on the side of large buildings or notable public monuments, etc. We invite you to get creative!
Ensure a strong media presence at the event and encourage press coverage, including social media coverage.
Engage with social media by sharing images from your event(s)
Identify any long-term plans for displaying the content (e.g., a permanent exhibit gallery).
The expectation is that the institution organising the event will bear the costs for the event.

The selected venues will receive the following as part of their involvement:

The 35th anniversary image will not be provided to event organisers in advance, however a selection of special new Hubble images from the dedicated ESA/Hubble 35th anniversary celebration series will be provided to event organisers with exclusive early access. Event organisers are also encouraged to showcase Hubble’s new official 35th anniversary image, which will be released around 24 April 2025.
Promotion of the event(s) on the ESA/Hubble website and social media channels

Applications are welcome from any of the ESA member states.

To submit a proposal, please provide a maximum of 2 pages (PDF format) describing how the above requirements will be fulfilled. The proposal should include a letter from the proposing institution with a commitment to carry out the event in case of selection and to support it financially, at no cost to ESA/Hubble. Please submit this document to info@esahubble.org.

The deadline to submit a proposal for this celebration is 30 November 2024. After this, proposals will no longer be accepted. Selected event organisers will be notified by late November.

Call for ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb Science Writer

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0200

The ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb Outreach team is looking for a motivated individual to join the team as a proficient science writer to support a variety of roles and activities pertaining to the work of bringing the images and science from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to the public. This is a unique opportunity to develop skills and experience in science communication for high-reach and high-impact products that are disseminated worldwide as part of two well-known and beloved science missions.

Position Overview

The ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb outreach team is composed of science communicators, scientists, science writers, visual artists, image processing specialists and more, who work together to showcase the research of the European Hubble & Webb users and institutions to the wider astronomical community and general public. This team is looking to add a dynamic, organized, and motivated individual to work alongside the team’s Chief Communications Officer to support a variety of tasks.

This science writing role will begin with a 3 month trial period, followed by a 12-month renewable freelance work agreement with the ESA Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute (Baltimore, USA) for 2025. The position will require roughly 20 hours per month. All work will be performed remotely and the individual will be working closely with the ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb Chief Communications Officer and Science Information Officer.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Writing of various texts, including the ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week and ESA/Webb Picture of the Month, support for science and photo release texts, video scripts (including the Space Sparks series), the ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb word banks, and announcements.
Thorough research and fact checking for all science texts.
Additional support as requested by the ESA/Hubble & Webb Chief Communications Officer as it pertains to tasks for ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb.
Attendance at team meetings

Remuneration and Benefits

Roughly 20 of work per month at €35/hour, as per a freelance agreement with the ESA Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute (Baltimore, USA)
Opportunity to work on high visibility and high impact products that are disseminated worldwide and part of two well-recognized and beloved space science missions
Develop experience in different areas of science communication and outreach
Opportunity to network with the members of the ESA/Hubble/Webb science outreach team and to engage with other members in the Hubble and Webb community.
Mentorship
Possible opportunities for greater responsibilities and roles in the future with the ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb outreach team

Applicant Profile

We are welcoming applications from individuals who fit the following profile:

Minimum Bachelor’s degree in Astronomy or a related field (Master’s degree preferred)
Excellent writing skills, including proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Strong English skills. Native English speaker is preferred but not required.
Interest in developing experience in science outreach and communications. Previous experience in this field strongly preferred.
Interest in gaining coordination experience.
Strong multitasking and organizational skills, as ESA/Hubble/Webb science outreach work involves the coordination of many different tasks.
Prepared with own equipment (computer, internet access, etc.) for remote work.
Responsive to accommodate for new and dynamic tasks.

Application Instructions

Please submit all of the following as a single PDF file to info@esahubble.org by 31 August at 11:59PM Central European time:

CV (2 pages maximum) - required
Please include previous relevant work experience and associated responsibilities, education, personal skills, languages, as well as current residence status
Cover letter (1 page maximum) - required
Please describe your interest and suitability for the role as well as your professional aspirations
Writing samples - required
The applicant should provide up to 3 relevant writing samples that demonstrate interest and proficiency in science writing (preferably in astronomy)

Additional Notes

Applications are welcome from all countries.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

ESA/Hubble/Webb embraces the diversity of our team. We are deeply committed to encouraging people of all backgrounds to apply for this opportunity. We therefore strongly encourage women, ethnic minorities, and disabled individuals to apply for this opportunity. Our experience has demonstrated that the broader the styles, backgrounds, and abilities of our staff—in other words, the more diverse our team is—the greater potential we have for success. ESA/Hubble does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, lawful political affiliations, veteran status, or mental or physical handicap.

Those needing assistance with the application can contact us at info@esahubble.org.

Announcement of the 2024 ESA Hubble and Webb Calendar

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0100

To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the completion of the first year of science operations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar for 2024 that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions.

The 2024 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2023. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below).

The images featured in the calendar are as follows:

Cover: The subject of the first anniversary image from the James Webb Space Telescope is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, impacting the surrounding interstellar gas and lighting up molecular hydrogen.

January: Formed by a star throwing off its outer layers as it runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is an archetypal planetary nebula. The near-infrared image makes the ring’s intricate detail visible, while the mid-infrared image reveals concentric features in the outer regions of the nebula’s ring.

February: In 2023 several images from Hubble of ‘jellyfish’ galaxies, named for their beautiful trailing tentacles, were released. These jellyfish are all travelling through galaxy clusters, ploughing through the diffuse gas that pervades such clusters. The resulting ‘ram pressure’ strips gas from the galaxies and creates these trailing streamers, where new stars form.

March: This month features three images that give radically different views of the galaxy NGC 6822. At the bottom, in Webb’s mid-infrared image, the emission of light by galactic dust is prominent, obscuring the galaxy’s stars. In the middle, the near-infrared image shows the galaxy’s countless stars in incredible detail. The two views are combined in the top image.

April: Released to celebrate Hubble’s 33rd anniversary in April 2023, this month features the star-forming nebula NGC 1333 in the Perseus molecular cloud. Hubble’s colourful view, showcasing its unique ability to obtain images in light from ultraviolet to near-infrared, unveils an effervescent cauldron of gases and dust stirred up by newly forming stars within the dark cloud.

May: A massive galaxy cluster, SPT-CL J0019-2026, dominates the centre of this month’s image from Hubble. The view is populated with a serene collection of elliptical and spiral galaxies, but galaxies surrounding the central cluster appear stretched into bright arcs, an amazing example of gravitational lensing.

June: Webb’s view of the Orion Bar region is a part of the Orion Nebula that hosts intense star formation activity and active astrochemistry. Harsh ultraviolet light from the stars of the Trapezium Cluster carves out a rich tapestry of cavities and filaments.

July: The distorted galaxy NGC 3256 is the result of an ancient clash between two galaxies. The image from Webb captures infrared light from dust grains, irradiated by young stars that were formed from the collision. The image from Hubble highlights hot, massive stars in the two galactic cores, shrouded by dark dust that blocks visible light.

August: A portion of the open cluster NGC 6530 appears as a roiling wall of smoke studded with stars in this month’s image from Hubble. The cluster is set within the larger Lagoon Nebula, a gigantic interstellar cloud of gas and dust; it is the nebula that gives this image its distinctly smokey appearance.

September: In its first year the James Webb Space Telescope has returned stunning infrared images of the Solar System’s outer planets and some of their moons. Featured this month are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

October: The graceful winding arms of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 stretch across this month’s Webb image. This galactic portrait is a composite image that integrates both near-infrared and mid-infrared data. Red colours trace out dust grains, while orange and yellow reveal regions of gas ionised by recently formed star clusters.

November: This month features a star-filled view from the Hubble Space Telescope of Terzan 12, a globular cluster embedded in our Milky Way galaxy. Creeping tendrils of galactic gas and dust blanket large portions of Terzan 12, giving some stars a sinister red hue. Relatively unobscured stars shine brightly in white and blue.

December: This month’s image features the central region of the Chameleon I dark cloud. Cold, wispy cloud material is illuminated in the infrared by the glow of a young, shrouded protostar. Its study points at icy molecules forming in clouds of gas and dust that will one day form stars and planets

Please note that hard copies are not available directly from ESA/Hubble/Webb. We invite you to avail yourself of the free calendar formats below.

Announcement of Opportunity for ESA-appointed representatives to join the NASA-GOMAP START team for the Habitable Worlds Observatory

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0200

A special Announcement of Opportunity (AO) is soliciting the participation of the European community in the role of ESA-appointed representatives to the NASA Great Observatory Maturation Program’s (GOMAP) Science, Technology, Architecture Review Team (START) for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission.

The 2020 National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020) recommended a "Great Observatories Mission and Technology Maturation Program" as its highest priority in Enabling Programs for Space. Astro2020 further recommended that the first mission to enter the maturation program be an infrared-optical-ultraviolet (IR/Optical/UV) space telescope. In response to these recommendations, NASA has established the Great Observatory Maturation Program (GOMAP). Consistent with the guidance from Astro2020, the first entrant into GOMAP will be the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a space-based IR/Optical/UV telescope. As part of GOMAP, NASA will form and coordinate a series of groups whose collective activities will perform and document analyses that advance HWO's concept maturity. These analyses will inform a future pre-phase-A project's decisions on HWO science, technology, and architecture trades. One of the groups being formed is the START. The START will translate the Astro2020 science objectives and goals into quantified observational capabilities for HWO.

ESA will appoint up to three representatives to the START. These positions will be for the duration of the START activities (expected to be between 18-36 months) or for a duration of 36 months, whichever comes first. With the exception of expenses incurred while travelling for activities related to the current call (a maximum of two transatlantic trips per year), ESA will not fund the activities of the scientists and each proposer is responsible for securing their own funding from other sources.

The AO is open to scientists and engineers based in ESA Member States. Early career scientists and historically under-represented groups in astronomy and space sciences are encouraged to apply.

Full details of this AO and the relevant submission forms can be found in the ESA HWO-START call. Proposals in response to this AO must be preceded by a mandatory Letter of Intent. Proposals not preceded by a Letter of Intent will not be considered. The Letters of Intent are due by 12 noon CET, 1 November 2023, and the deadline for receipt of proposals is 12:00 CEST, 30 November 2023.

Announcement of the 2023 ESA Hubble and Webb Calendar

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 10:00:00 +0100

To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the first year of operations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions for 2023.

The 2023 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2022. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below).

The images featured in the calendar are as follows:

Cover: This landscape of mountains and valleys speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible regions of star birth.

January: The protostar L1527, shown in this image from the James Webb Space Telescope, is embedded within a cloud of material that is feeding its growth. Material ejected from the star has cleared out cavities above and below it, whose boundaries glow orange and blue in this infrared view.

February: The image on the left is the first deep-field image from the James Webb Space Telescope, showcasing thousands of galaxies of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 in the near-infrared. The image on the right from the Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy cluster Abell 611, located roughly 3.2 billion light-years from Earth.

March: In this mosaic image stretching 340 light-years across, the James Webb Space Telescope showcases the Tarantula Nebula star-forming region in infrared light, including tens of thousands of previously unseen young stars that are obscured by cosmic dust in visible-light images.

April: This month features four galaxy mergers. The objects are IC 1623 (top left, as seen by Webb), Arp 248 (bottom left, as seen by Hubble), Arp 282 (top right, as seen by Hubble), and IC 2431 (bottom right, as seen by Hubble).

May: Two views from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal the planetary nebula NGC 3132, also known as the Southern Ring. The left image is a sharp near-infrared view of the nebula, while the view on the right is in mid-infrared wavelengths, and captures the dust shrouding one of the white dwarf stars at the nebula’s centre.

June: Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, is featured here in near-infrared wavelengths as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. Different colours mark the light from the planet’s aurorae, and the clouds and hazes at different depths in the atmosphere. The Great Red Spot shines brightly with reflected near-infrared light from the Sun.

July: This montage displays four globular star clusters as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Shown here are Liller 1 (top left), Terzan 9 (bottom left), Terzan 4 (top right) and NGC 6569 (bottom right). Each is filled with both redder, older stars and bluer, younger ones.

August: These images show unusual, densely packed groupings of entire galaxies. The left image, in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope, is of the soon-to-merge galaxies of HCG 40. The right image, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light, is of the interacting galaxies of HCG 92 — also known as Stephan’s Quintet.

September: This celestial cloudscape from the Hubble Space Telescope captures the colourful region surrounding the Herbig-Haro object HH 505. The Orion Nebula is awash in intense ultraviolet radiation from bright young stars. Outflows from such stars collide with gas and dust, creating the shockwaves known as Herbig-Haro objects that are brightly visible to Hubble.

October: This montage features three views of M74, also known as the Phantom Galaxy. The left section of this image is a visible-light image from the Hubble Space Telescope, while the right section, in mid-infrared wavelengths, comes from the James Webb Space Telescope. In the centre, data from both telescopes are combined for a truly unique view into the heart of the object.

November: Two views of the famous Pillars of Creation, part of the Eagle Nebula, are revealed here by the James Webb Space Telescope. The left, mid-infrared, image details the spread of interstellar dust. On the right, the near-infrared image highlights bright, newly-formed stars.

December: NGC 7038 is displayed in glorious detail here by the Hubble Space Telescope. The image is remarkably detailed, combining over 15 hours of observations to expose distant stars and galaxies in the background. The spiral galaxy filling the frame here contains celestial objects that can be used to measure distances on cosmic scales.

Please note that hard copies are not available directly from ESA/Hubble. We invite you to avail of the free calendar formats below.

The new European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) Science Archive

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 11:00:00 +0100

A new version of the European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) Science Archive, hosted at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid, has been released. The ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC) has developed a new infrastructure for the user interface and backend services for the eHST archive, to help maximise the science return of this precious data resource.

The eHST archive employs common procedures and tools, originally developed by the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) in close collaboration with ESDC and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute, to synchronise observational metadata and publicly-available data by mirroring the MAST HST archive.

With more than 1.5 million observations now completed by Hubble, the new eHST interface has been designed to enable effective and intuitive exploration of this rich data archive. It also includes accompanying catalogues (e.g., the Hubble Source Catalogue) and higher-level data products.

The eHST archive has evolved with a new user interface to allow more intuitive and visual data exploration than before. New functionalities include:

A modern look and format that will be deployed across all of the ESDC Science Archives. This follows a common design and workflow to enhance data exploration and navigation between ESA’s different missions.
Seamless integration with ESASky, ESA’s multi-mission visualisation interface. This allows Hubble data to be explored in the context of other missions (including the latest available data from the James Webb Space Telescope) and published catalogues.
A new image viewer enabling quick-look inspection of FITS files, which includes image manipulation without needing to download the files.
Optimised searches using simple commands offered in the user interface, with users then able to replicate them in other platforms (e.g. CURL, Astroquery).
Enhanced navigation through the variety of data on a given source enabled by filtering of all metadata properties and data products to identify the relevant files.
Access to the observing proposals and the Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) of publications from each Hubble program. The DOI archive can also be used to download the relevant data products from a given publication.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.