ESAHubble News

Science Release: Hubble tracks new decagon encircling Saturn’s south pole

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 20:00:00 +0200

Recent observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn’s south pole. This discovery marks the first time a large regular-sided jet pattern has been observed in the planet’s southern hemisphere. The feature appears remarkably similar to Saturn’s famous hexagon at its northern pole, but is also distinctly different, suggesting scientists may be witnessing a new atmospheric phenomenon develop on the iconic gas giant.

Science Release: Hubble solves merger mystery from Milky Way’s early years

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:00:00 +0200

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to its current size in part by consuming smaller galaxies. Now, new data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show definitive evidence of a dwarf galaxy merging with the young Milky Way galaxy in the earliest phases of its evolution. This finding extends our knowledge of our galaxy’s history 1.8 billion years farther back in time than before.

Science Release: Hubble discovers first of star cluster’s missing black holes

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0200

The massive globular star cluster Omega Centauri has puzzled astronomers for decades. It should be filled with black holes left behind by exploding stars, yet evidence for them is scarce. Now, astronomers using archival data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and supportive observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have finally located their first stellar-mass black hole in this cluster. Discovering the first of this missing black hole population will help refine current theories on black hole formation within environments such as Omega Centauri.

Science Release: Hubble details early galaxy transforming neighbourhood

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0200

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found something they never expected: ultraviolet light from a galaxy that existed just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. That galaxy contains tightly clustered young stars that produce ionising light capable of transforming the opaque, neutral gas within and immediately around the galaxy, clearing our view. This suggests that similar galaxies in the early Universe were responsible for clearing the neutral fog of hydrogen gas that once filled the cosmos.

Photo Release: Hubble dazzles with young stars in Trifid Nebula for 36th anniversary

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0200

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope looked at a scene it first captured in 1997 in honour of its 36th anniversary: a small portion of a star-forming region about 5000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius, known as the Trifid Nebula. The image shows changes over incredibly short timescales and instills a sense of awe and wonder about our ever-changing Universe.

Photo Release: Hubble revisits Crab Nebula to track 25 years of expansion

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Nearly a millennium ago, astronomers witnessed a brilliant new star blazing in the sky — a supernova so bright it was visible in daylight for weeks. Today, its expanding remnant, the Crab Nebula, continues to evolve 6,500 light-years away. First linked to historical records by Edwin Hubble, the nebula has since been studied in exquisite detail by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which has now revisited this ancient explosion to trace its ongoing expansion and transformation.

Science Release: Hubble unexpectedly catches comet breaking up

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Comet K1, whose full name is Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), had just passed its closest approach to the Sun and was heading out of the Solar System. Though it had been intact just days before, K1 fragmented into at least four pieces while the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was watching. The odds of that happening while Hubble viewed the comet are extraordinarily miniscule.

Science Release: Hubble identifies one of darkest known galaxies

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Most galaxies in the nearby Universe are quite luminous, but some are so faint they’re nearly invisible. Astronomers, using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in combination with other observatories, identified a galaxy that appears to be almost entirely dominated by dark matter with only a smattering of stars. The galaxy, known as Candidate Dark Galaxy-2 (CDG-2), appears to contain just four globular star clusters (compared to the Milky Way’s 150-plus), and dimly shines with the light of only about 1 million Suns.

Photo Release: Hubble captures light show around rapidly dying star

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0100

This stunning image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a dramatic interplay of light and shadow in the Egg Nebula, sculpted by freshly ejected stardust. Located approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Egg Nebula features a central star obscured by a dense cloud of dust. Only Hubble’s sharpness can unveil the intricate details that hint at the processes shaping this enigmatic structure.

Science Release: Researchers discover hundreds of cosmic anomalies with help from AI

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0100

A team of astronomers have used a new AI-assisted method to search for rare astronomical objects in the Hubble Legacy Archive. The team sifted through nearly 100 million image cutouts in just two and a half days, uncovering nearly 1400 anomalous objects, more than 800 of which had never been documented before.