ESAWebb News

Photo Release: Webb uncovers unusual galaxy shaped by cosmic collision

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0200

In new images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to celebrate its fourth science anniversary, a familiar galaxy transforms into something far richer, and far more complex, than ever seen before. Webb’s unprecedented sensitivity across near- and mid-infrared wavelengths cuts through the thick lanes of dust that obscure Centaurus A’s centre in visible light, showing a densely packed tapestry of individual stars and an active, everchanging galaxy. These images mark four years of better-than-anticipated performance and successful science operations for the most powerful space telescope in history.

Science Release: Webb studies how a planet survived death of its star

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0200

An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to watch the Jupiter-sized exoplanet WD 1856 b transit its host star, measuring the planet’s mass and temperature and even detecting its atmosphere. They found that the planet is significantly warmer than expected and determined how it most likely reached its very tight orbit around the star, a white dwarf. The results are our first window into the future of planets like Jupiter after the death of the Sun, billions of years into the future.

Photo Release: Webb pinpoints millions of stars within Cigar Galaxy

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

Located 12 million light-years away and undergoing rapid star formation, edge-on spiral galaxy Messier 82 (M82) is a scientifically unique sight to behold, and now the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has revealed previously unseen details.

Science Release: Webb finds clues to ancient, distant origin of Comet 3I/ATLAS

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0200

The third identified interstellar comet in human history has a surprising chemical makeup, raising questions as to how common, or unusual, conditions in our own Solar System may be.

Science Release: Webb and Hubble reveal history of relic of the Milky Way galaxy’s formation

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:15:00 +0200

Researchers have confirmed a new class of objects within our Milky Way galaxy: survivors called “bulge fossil fragments.” Terzan 5 is the prototype of these remnants of our galaxy's early formation. Billions of years ago, similar primordial clumps spread out and merged to form the Milky Way’s bulge, yet Terzan 5 remained intact until the present day. A new study that combined recent observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and data taken over 12 years from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has definitively shown that Terzan 5 experienced up to four distinct episodes of star formation, confirming that it’s not a true globular cluster. Instead, it is something much odder and rarer.

Science Release: Webb finds strongest evidence yet for "black hole stars”

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0200

The complex puzzle of the objects known as little red dots (LRDs) has gradually become more complete since their initial discovery by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in 2022. Now a particular little red dot’s spectrum is helping connect many of the pieces.

Science Release: Webb reveals black hole that formed before its galaxy

Wed, 27 May 2026 17:00:00 +0200

Using the unprecedented imaging and spectroscopic power of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have mapped the motion and composition of gas orbiting a black hole in the centre of Abell2744-QSO1, a tiny galaxy more than 13 billion light-years away. The results suggest that the 50-million-solar-mass black hole predates its host galaxy, possibly forming within the first second of the Big Bang, and must have been immense from the start.

Science Release: Webb looks into the cradles of star clusters, finds massive clusters emerge faster

Wed, 06 May 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope together with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have looked deeply at thousands of young star clusters in four nearby galaxies, studying clusters at different stages of evolution. Their findings show that more massive star clusters emerge more quickly from the clouds they are born in, clearing away gas and filling the galaxy with ultraviolet light. The result gives us a more detailed understanding of star formation in galaxies, as well as how and where planets can form.

Science Release: Webb redefines dividing line between planets and stars

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0200

Where is the dividing line between stars and the most massive planets? Scientists think it may depend on how they formed. Was it from a bottom-up approach, gradually growing larger over time, or a top-down approach in which a large collection of gas and dust fragments into smaller, planet-sized bits? Astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to study an object weighing about 15 times as much as Jupiter, which puts it right on the dividing line between the two processes. They found that the object, called 29 Cygni b, likely formed from the bottom up rather than the top down. In other words, it formed like a planet, not a star.

Photo Release: Webb and Hubble share most comprehensive view of Saturn to date

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:00:00 +0100

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have joined forces to capture new views of Saturn, revealing the planet in strikingly different ways.