Welcome to the Universe
Discover the universe: Learn about the history of the cosmos, what it's made of, and so much more.
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Exoplanets
Worlds beyond our solar system.

Stars
Giant balls of hot gas that burn for millions to billions of years.

Black Holes
Concentrations of matter with gravity so powerful not even light can escape.

Galaxies
Collections of stars, planets, and vast clouds of gas and dust bound together by gravity.
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NASA IXPE’s ‘Heartbeat’ Measurements Challenge Current Theories
Black holes don’t have hearts, but they can have a heartbeat. When matter gets pulled toward a black hole it forms an accretion disk. The hottest part of the disk can create a repeating X-ray signal as the matter piles up and then plunges into the black hole. But when scientists gave this black hole a checkup, the results didn’t match expectations, challenging current theories. Learning more about how black holes behave helps us better understand how galaxies, stars, planets, and even elements came to be,
Learn MoreThis artist’s concept shows the pulsing behavior of the black hole in system IGR J17091-3624 at its real-time speed of 5 seconds per cycle.
NASA/Walt Feimer (HSTI), Tyler Chase (UMBC), Scott Wiessinger (GSFC)


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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared shows a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out at different angles from a dying star at the center of the scene. In this image, the red areas represent cool molecular gas, for exa
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The mid-infrared view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows expanding circular shells around the outflows from the dying central star, which astronomers suspect is the pinkish white dot at the center of the image.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared shows a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out at different angles from a dying star at the center of the scene. In this image, the red areas represent cool molecular gas, for exa
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The mid-infrared view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows expanding circular shells around the outflows from the dying central star, which astronomers suspect is the pinkish white dot at the center of the image.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Near Infrared
Mid Infrared
NASA's Webb Unravels Nebula Mystery
Expanding gas shells called planetary nebulae can take on unusual shapes, sculpted by the stars at their centers. In these images of NGC 6072 captured by NASA’s Webb telescope, astronomers see hints of two central stars whose interaction created the nebula’s striking, spiky form. Because most stars in our galaxy belong to binary systems, studying nebulae like this helps us understand how stellar pairs evolve and how they enrich the galaxy with the elements needed to form new stars and planets. Move the slider to compare Webb’s NIRCam and MIRI views of this cosmic cloud.
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Mapping Stellar ‘Polka Dots’
A new model called StarryStarryProcess helps scientists analyze stars and map their star spots, like the sunspots we see on our Sun. Star spots can make it harder to accurately detect and study the atmospheres of orbiting planets.
With a more accurate star spot map, scientists can help future missions disentangle signals from stars and planets and sharpen the search for habitable worlds.
Featured News
Hubble Surveys Supernova-Rich Spiral
NGC 1309 is about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus, but has caught NASA’s Hubble telescope attention several times. The spiral galaxy is host to two perfect examples of Type Ia supernovae which happen in two-star systems when one of the stars is a white dwarf.
These types of blasts are like cosmic mile markers that help scientists measure the universe’s expansion and explore mysteries like dark energy.

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