Announcements

19 December 2022: -By María Arévalo Sánchez, Javier Espinosa Aranda, Mónica Fernández Barreiro, Marcos López-Caniego Alcarria, Francisco Javier Ballester Arenas, Bruno Merín, Chris Evans, Paule Sonnentrucker- We are delighted to announce the release of a new version of the European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) Science Archive, hosted at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid. The ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC) has developed a new infrastructure for the user interface and backend services of 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 …

19 December 2022: -By Bethany Downer - 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 …

6 October 2022: -By Chris Evans- Following the successful commissioning of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, and its move into science operations, we are already witnessing the first science breakthroughs enabled by its unprecedented infrared sensitivity and observing capabilities. To share some of these new discoveries, we are pleased to announce a conference on the First Science Results from JWST at the Space Telescope Science Institute, in Baltimore, USA, on 12–14 December 2022. With the first science releases and results showcasing the scientific performance of the observatory and its instruments, we can start to plan the ambitious future programmes that will address today’s scientific questions and shape the direction of our field. With this in mind, one of the goals of the conference is to share lessons learned on how best to optimise observations and data analysis, in good time for the Cycle 2 proposal deadline (27 January 2023). The conference will …

6 October 2022: -By Chris Evans- Alongside the excitement of the first Webb data, the team at ESAC’s Science Data Centre released the European JWST (eJWST) archive. This provides a fast and user-friendly European interface to Webb data, including quick-look search tools by target or proposal ID, and a powerful visual means to search the archive using ESASky search (see image above). After the unveiling of the first images and spectra on 12 July, the associated raw data and pipeline-reduced products were ingested into the eJWST archive as soon as they were released. Since then, all public data and pipeline products are now regularly updated on eJWST, including those from the Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science (ERS) programmes and from the other image releases (e.g. the Cartwheel Galaxy and 30 Doradus). Users can also download exclusive access data using their tokens for the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) within the eJWST environment. …

6 October 2022: -By Bethany Downer and Deborah Baines- We are so pleased to announce that the ESA/Webb and ESASky teams have collaborated again to incorporate the spectacular Webb images featured on the ESA/Webb website into the ESASky application (as is already done for ESA/Hubble images). ESASky is a web-based app that helps users to interact with outreach astronomical images and datasets taken in different bands of light, obtained by ESA missions. As this collaboration sought to harness this unique educational tool to engage with a broader audience, users who are interested in the more detailed science behind Webb’s wide variety of breathtaking images can now also enjoy data-driven tools in ESASky! This includes finding Webb's science-ready archival datasets used in the public outreach images, or overlaying ESA's Gaia catalogue on top of a cluster image taken by Webb to better understand the movements and characteristics of stars in a given cluster. The …

6 October 2022: -By Bethany Downer - In July the dawn of a new era in astronomy began as the world got its first look at the full capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s first full-colour images and spectroscopic data, which uncovered a spectacular collection of cosmic features that have remained elusive until now, were released. This began with a preview of Webb’s First Deep Field of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as unveiled by US President Joe Biden during a White House event on Monday 11 July. On Tuesday 12 July the complete collection of Webb’s first observations were revealed during a live NASA broadcast. These first observations tell the story of the hidden Universe through every phase of cosmic history and were shared and celebrated worldwide. The now famous images and spectra revealed the capabilities of all four of Webb’s state-of-the-art scientific instruments and confirmed that the observations …

29 April 2022: - By Bethany Downer - On 30 March 2022 a special science release was published that made headlines worldwide. Hubble had established an extraordinary new benchmark by detecting the light of a star (nicknamed Earendel) that existed within the first billion years after the Universe’s birth in the Big Bang, at a redshift of 6.2 — the most distant individual star ever seen. These results were published on this date in Nature. As expected, this release made a significant impact in the media and was a prominent topic of conversation on social media platforms. In fact, this was the largest coverage of any ESA/Hubble release recorded to date! The previous top three highest-reaching releases were as follows: heic1717 October 2017: Hubble observes source of gravitational waves for the first time heic 1916 September 2019: Hubble Finds Water Vapour on Habitable-Zone Exoplanet for the First Time heic2007 April 2020: Hubble Celebrates …

29 April 2022: -By Chris Evans- We are about to enter a remarkable period for astronomy. The start of science operations with Webb is fast approaching, while Hubble continues to surprise us with fantastic new discoveries. To bring the community together at this exciting time, we are holding the latest in the successful series of conferences on Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes VI in Stockholm on 11–15 July. Now into its 33rd year since launch, the UV-visible capabilities of Hubble are unrivalled and securing observing time is as competitive as it’s ever been. The conference will feature talks that span the breadth of Hubble science: from studies of the Solar System and exoplanets to observations of the distant, young Universe — and everything in between. It will also be the perfect opportunity to celebrate the spectacular start of the Webb mission. After its stunning launch from the European Spaceport …

29 April 2022: -By Bethany Downer - Everyone is growing eager for more Webb updates as commissioning continues and we get closer to the Early Release Observations in a few months’ time. Meanwhile, here is a summary of some significant milestones achieved by Webb in the past few weeks. Verification of the on-orbit functionality of all Webb’s near-infrared instruments started while they were still cooling down to their operating temperature. On 3 March the European team overseeing the NIRSpec instrument announced the successful completion of the initial checks of all internal mechanisms. On 16 March it was shared that following the completion of critical mirror alignment steps, the Webb team expects that the observatory’s optical performance will be able to meet or exceed the science goals the observatory was built to achieve. This was delightful news, following the completion of the stage of alignment known as ‘fine phasing’ on 11 March. Every optical …

21 April 2022: -Chris Evans, Bethany Downer- The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Early Release Observations (ERO) will be among the first spectacular images and spectra taken following the commissioning of the observatory. This release will represent Webb’s debut to the world by showcasing the observatory’s capabilities and is intended to have immediate and dramatic appeal for a broad audience. This top-secret and highly anticipated collection of images and spectra are intended to be shared widely around the world. To help celebrate this important release, ESA/Webb is inviting proposals from organisations, institutions, and groups across Europe to maximize the reach and impact of these products with special events. These products will be provided in digital format and we welcome creative and innovative ideas for how these images and spectra can be shared with the greater public across Europe. In order to submit an application, the applicant (on behalf of the associated group …

29 December 2021: -By Bethany Downer - To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble has released a new calendar for 2022. The 2022 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases and Pictures of the Week published during 2021. 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 Veil Nebula, which resides around 2100 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, was the subject of new processing techniques in 2021, which brought out fine details of the nebula’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas. January: The supernova remnant known as 1E 0102.2-7219, which is located roughly 200 000 light-years away. The gaseous knots in this supernova remnant are moving at different …

29 December 2021: -By Mahdi Zamani, Bethany Downer, and Bruno Merín - We are so pleased to announce that in 2021 the ESA/Hubble and ESASky team started a collaboration that brings the spectacular Hubble images featured on the ESA/Hubble website to the ESASky application. ESASky is a web-based app that helps users to interact with outreach astronomical images and datasets taken in different bands of light, obtained by ESA missions. As this collaboration sought to harness this unique educational tool to engage with a broader audience, users who are interested in the more detailed science behind Hubble’s wide variety of breathtaking images can now also enjoy data-driven tools in ESASky! This includes finding Hubble's science-ready archival datasets used in the public outreach images, or overlaying ESA's Gaia catalogue on top of a cluster image taken by Hubble to better understand the movements and characteristics of stars in a given cluster. The ESA/Hubble outreach …

29 December 2021: -By Bethany Downer - 2021 was another busy year for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In 2021 scientists throughout Europe published a large number of exciting new results. Of the various ESA/Hubble science releases published this year, some memorable scientific news that garnered particular public interest included Hubble’s evidence of volcanic activity reforming the atmosphere on a rocky planet around a distant star, the first evidence of water vapour on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede and the discovery of a persistent water vapour atmosphere on Europa. This year, an ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week also prompted new scientific understanding of a stunning Einstein Ring. After 31 years of operation, it’s staggering to consider the magnitude and impact of the telescope’s continuing output of breakthrough results. This also spurs us to imagine what scientific discoveries await us next year and beyond! All of the many beautiful photo releases published this year have been …

29 December 2021: -By Paule Sonnentrucker- New ESA Hubble and Webb Mission Manager: Paule Sonnentrucker I am a French astronomer, a science operation scientist and now Mission Manager with the European Space Agency. After graduating from Strasbourg Observatory (France) in 2000, I started my professional career at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU, USA) first as a postdoctoral fellow in the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) team, and then as a member of the JHU research staff, until I joined the ESA/Hubble team at STScI in mid-2010. My research aims at understanding the molecular Universe with a particular emphasis on identifying the contents (gas-phase and ices), and constraining the evolution of diffuse molecular clouds and star-forming regions. I use multi-wavelength spectroscopy from space and the ground. I am thrilled at the prospect of exploiting Webb’s capabilities to study the physics and chemistry of these systems. Like many of you, I am looking forward to capitalising …

29 December 2021: -By Chris Evans- New ESA Hubble and Webb Project Scientist: Chris Evans I started out at University College London, first as an undergraduate and then as a postgraduate. On my first observing runs I used the Two-degree Field (2dF) facility on the Anglo-Australian Telescope for a survey of massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. 2dF was still fairly new, and it blew me away at the time that in just a handful of nights we assembled a spectroscopic sample that was a hundred times that of all the past efforts combined. This was a first hook for me into the power of new instrumentation, and sparked my interest in shaping future facilities. In 2002 I moved to a postdoctoral position at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes in La Palma. I initially worked on Hubble ultraviolet observations of massive stars in the Magellanic Clouds, but also took on a …

29 December 2021: -By Bethany Downer - The ESA/Hubble outreach team is excited to share that our team will play a major role in the ESA/Webb science outreach. The brand new ESA/Webb website is also now live at ESAWebb.org. The ESA/Hubble outreach team is coordinated through the ESA Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute. While this Hubble outreach work will continue in 2022, it will also now include the coordination of ESA/Webb scientific outreach, especially as we prepare for science operations. We are also delighted to announce that the ESA/Webb website, ESAwebb.org, is now live! This website will be showcasing and disseminating updates during the telescope’s commissioning, in coordination with NASA, and will then share various science outreach products once the telescope begins full science operations. This website will be home to the ESA/Webb content that the scientific community and the public have become familiar with, including press releases, imagery, announcements, Space …

29 December 2021: -By Daniel de Chambure, Maurice Te Plate, Antonella Nota & Bethany Downer- As watched from around the world with excitement, a very major milestone for this mission has just been successfully completed: Europe’s Ariane 5 delivered Webb into the first phase of its planned trajectory, with a launch mass of about 6200 kg, toward its final position orbiting the L2 Lagrange point, which will be reached in 4 weeks time. As we all held our collective breath, lift-off took place on December 25, 2021 at 13:20 CET from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, for a flight lasting about 27 minutes before spacecraft separation. About seven seconds after the ignition of the main-stage cryogenic engine, the two solid propellant boosters were ignited, enabling liftoff. The launcher first climbed vertically for about 13 seconds, and then rotated towards the east. The solid boosters were jettisoned 2 minutes and 14 seconds after …

11 October 2021: -By Bethany Downer- In its more than three decades in orbit, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionised our understanding of the Universe, educated both astronomers and the public at large, and inspired new generations of students to become interested in astronomy, space science and engineering. Hubble has brought the Universe into people’s homes and has effectively made its beauty accessible to all, worldwide, and not just a privilege reserved to a few professional astronomers. The initial history of failure and recovery has hit a chord with the public that no other mission has. It is a tale of amazing human ingenuity that prompted a collaboration spanning continents and involving diverse communities of astronomers and engineers to find a solution that could restore the intended capabilities. The astronauts made it all possible, and maintained the telescope’s state-of-the-art technology with five servicing missions, to make it the powerful observatory that it …

11 October 2021: The ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb Outreach team is looking for a motivated individual to join the team as an intern 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 scientific community and the public for the European Space Agency (ESA). This is a unique opportunity to develop skills and experience in science communication, involving high-reach and high-impact products that are disseminated worldwide to showcase two well-known and loved 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 the general public. The team is looking to add a dynamic, organised, …

11 October 2021: -By Maurice te Plate (ESA)- We are getting very close to launching the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the largest and most complex space telescope ever built! At Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Redondo Beach California, the past months have been very busy with many close-out activities to be finished: The Fore and Aft Sunshield Unitized Pallet Structures (UPS), the structures that hold the tennis court sized sunshield in place during launch, have both been fully stowed for flight. The electrical integration team has also successfully completed the regression testing of the reworked transponders. Furthermore, the JWST’s Solar Array, that will provide electrical power to the telescope and spacecraft, has been installed. In addition, various other observatory close-out activities were completed, none of which delayed the shipment to the launch site. After completing its final tests at Northrop Grumman, the JWST was prepared for shipment to ESA’s Spaceport in Kourou, French …