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Send your name to fly on Roman and download a boarding pass like this one with your name on it!

What’s the farthest you’ve ever traveled from home? Want to beat your record by about a million miles? Submit to have your name added to a memory card that will be attached to a plaque on our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope traveling a million miles away!

Moon Joy June artists!  This is the second week of Moon Joy June, and the prompt is “Moon.” If you’re an artist looking for some inspiration, we have a treat for you: four new and previously unseen images from our Artemis II mission!

All four of these images were captured on April 6, 2026, during flight day 6 of the mission, when the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft conducted the lunar flyby of their ten-day journey. During the lunar flyby, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen captured photographs and collected scientific observations of the Moon in meticulous detail.

NASA’s Webb Catches Exoplanet Getting Roasted

One well-done gas giant, coming right up! That’s the latest from researchers analyzing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of HD 80606 b, an exoplanet four times the mass of Jupiter with an extremely elliptical orbit that sweeps close by its Sun-like star. The research team is presenting their study and preliminary findings Tuesday at the 248th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California.

“Hot Jupiters are already considered some of the most extreme exoplanets we know of, but even among that population, HD 80606 b is one of the most extreme,” said Tiffany Kataria, the study’s principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We typically think of hot Jupiters as hot gas giants sitting right next to their stars, but this planet’s highly eccentric orbit creates a completely different beast.”

As the planet plunges close to its star, Webb shows its temperature skyrockets by 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Previous studies have shown that radical temperature swings can cause an exoplanet's chemistry and clouds to change in real time. According to the research team, the dynamic conditions of HD 80606 b make the planet an ideal target to observe these changes with Webb’s powerful instruments.

“Observing a planet like HD 80606 b is actually very efficient because its unusual orbit, with the corresponding swings in temperature and chemical composition, allow us to gather data under varying conditions in just hours and apply those findings to other hot Jupiters or more conventional exoplanets,” said Laura C. Mayorga, co-investigator on the study and an exoplanet astronomer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Measurements of temperature and chemical composition were done with spectroscopy, a technique scientists use to break light into its component colors to reveal information about the composition, temperature, motion, and physical properties of objects in space. The team used Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) for an extended observation of HD 80606 b before, during, and after its periastron, or closest pass by its star. During periastron, the planet also passed behind the star from Webb’s perspective in what’s known as a secondary eclipse. The observation was years in the planning, as scheduling the time to catch the planet at this point was complex given its extremely elliptical 111-day orbit, and Webb’s own restrictions on where it can look during specific times of the year, based on Earth’s position in orbit around the Sun.

Researchers say they have only begun to peel back the layers of an incredibly rich dataset, but they can clearly see a dramatic shift in the exoplanet’s temperature. “Webb has shown that the planet’s increase in temperature was even more extreme than we anticipated based on Spitzer data,” said Kataria.

In fact, the planet had already been dubbed the “roasted exoplanet” and even got its own poster in NASA’s popular series. NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope laid the groundwork of infrared observations of HD 80606 b, showing that more detailed spectroscopic data from Webb would be especially compelling.

“Spitzer did amazing work on this exoplanet, and now Webb is building on that legacy by enabling us to drill down to distinguish specific chemical signatures like methane and carbon dioxide, which is just amazing progress,” said Ryan Challener, co-author and research associate at the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science. “There’s so much to learn from this one dataset here — we really are just getting started deciphering what Webb has to tell us.”

Polar Ring Galaxy NGC 4650A

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

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.

Researchers using two of humanity’s most powerful observatories — the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes — have definitively shown that Terzan 5 is not a globular star cluster as it was once classified, offering new insight into how galaxies like our own form and evolve over time. A globular star cluster typically has only one ancient star population. New data not only confirms the existence of two distinct populations of stars in Terzan 5, but also provides evidence for two more recent rounds of star formation. Although located within the crowded bulge of the Milky Way galaxy, our galaxy’s central, spherical region of older stars, Terzan 5 was massive enough to maintain its separate identity while lighter weight systems spread out and mixed to form the bulge billions of years ago. It’s like a lump in an otherwise well-mixed cake batter.

“Webb’s new near-infrared observations, cross-referenced with Hubble’s archival observations, have given us a much clearer picture of the history of Terzan 5,” said Giorgia Zullo, who led the research and is a PhD student at the University of Bologna in Italy.

These results were presented at a press conference Tuesday at the 248th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, and were published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Four generations of stars

Discovered in 1968 by astronomer Azop Terzan, Terzan 5 resembles a globular cluster in many ways. However, in 2009 this system was discovered to harbor two distinct populations of stars. In 2016 Hubble provided the first estimate of their ages, showing that one formed roughly 12 billion years ago (as the Milky Way itself was assembling) and the other about 5 billion years ago, just before Earth started forming. This pointed to a more complex history than a typical globular cluster.

Studying Terzan 5 is complicated by its location in a region of our galaxy crowded with stars and heavily obscured by dust. This is where Webb stepped in. Its infrared view allowed the research team to peer through the dust and catalog many more stars, and fainter stars, than previous work. By measuring star colours and brightnesses, astronomers can classify them into populations of different ages and chemistries.

Webb was able to measure these key properties for every star within the field of view in the sky — both stars within Terzan 5 and unrelated foreground stars. To isolate the stars of Terzan 5, the team relied on the power and longevity of Hubble. The 12-year separation of Hubble’s exposures allowed the team to measure very small movements of individual stars, known as proper motions, to determine which stars belong to Terzan 5 and which are part of the Milky Way galaxy’s bulge.

By combining data from both Webb and Hubble, the researchers found strong evidence for two more stellar populations, one that formed 3.8 billion years ago and another only 2.5 billion years ago. They also were able to determine the ages of the previously known stellar populations with unprecedented precision, finding that they formed 12.5 billion and 4.7 billion years ago.

With the previously known two generations of stars, astronomers could not rule out the possibility that Terzan 5 interacted with another object, like a globular cluster or a giant molecular cloud, becoming enriched with new gas and dust that set off a second round of star formation. With four stellar generations, those explanations are ruled out.

Measurements of the stellar composition of Terzan 5 populations made at the W. M. Keck Observatory and European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope also point toward very distinct populations. “Along with the ages of these populations, the cluster preserves a fossil record of progressive enrichment of heavy elements by supernovae,” said co-author R. Michael Rich, a research astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Terzan 5 formed multiple generations of stars because it was able to retain the necessary raw materials. There is evidence of powerful supernova explosions in Terzan 5 that forged heavier elements that were swept up by subsequent generations of stars. In lighter weight systems, the force of the explosions themselves could have ejected the resulting elements as well as sweeping out leftover gas and dust. The progenitor of Terzan 5 had enough mass to retain those stars’ ejections, allowing new generations of stars to form over billions of years.

‘Bulge fossil fragment’

The results show that Terzan 5 is most likely the remnant of a much more massive stellar system that initially formed 12.5 billion years ago. Terzan 5 is extraordinary because it survived — and never merged or fully “mixed in” with the Milky Way galaxy’s bulge. “For some reason, this peculiar clump of stars formed separately from the bulge and was not destroyed as the bulge itself formed,” said Francesco R. Ferraro, a professor at the University of Bologna and principal investigator of the Webb observations. “Terzan 5 is what we now call a bulge fossil fragment because it resembles the primordial clumps that contributed to the formation of the bulge.”

To date, there’s one other known cosmic object like Terzan 5. Liller 1 was the second to be reclassified from a globular star cluster to a bulge fossil fragment. It also contains multiple generations of stars. There may be more objects like it. Between 40 to 50 additional globular clusters that orbit within the bulge will be examined by Ferraro’s team to determine if their stellar populations are all the same, like globular clusters, or have several generations, like bulge fossil fragments. 

Potential parallels for galaxy formation near, far

Ultimately, this research may improve what we know about how the central bulges of galaxies form over hundreds of millions of years. “Based on observations and in-depth simulations, we think that galaxies in the early Universe had huge disks of gas that fragmented into clumps and formed stars. These clumps migrated to the centre of the galaxies, and many merged to form their bulges,” said Barbara Lanzoni, a co-author and associate professor at the University of Bologna. For example, Webb has turned up several examples of “clumpy” galaxies that were actively forming when the Universe was only a few hundred million years old, like the clumps in the Firefly Sparkle galaxy. “Terzan 5 may provide direct evidence that can help explain how bulges formed in galaxies throughout the Universe,” Lanzoni said.

IMAGE: Terzan 5 is a stellar system orbiting within the Milky Way galaxy’s bulge, which is an incredibly bright, crowded central region of the galaxy. Not only are stars within the bulge tightly packed together — every bit of this region is laced with thick clouds of gas and dust. The James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes joined forces to study Terzan 5. Astronomers already knew that this star cluster was unusual in that it contained two stellar populations of very different ages. New research found strong evidence for two more stellar populations, one that formed 3.8 billion years ago and another only 2.5 billion years ago. The research team also was able to determine the ages of the previously known stellar populations with unprecedented precision, finding that they formed 12.5 billion and 4.7 billion years ago. This finding proved that Terzan 5 is not a globular star cluster, as originally classified. Instead, Terzan 5 belongs to a new category, known as a bulge fossil fragment — a self-contained, self-enriching stellar system with multiple star populations of different ages and with different iron abundances. Terzan 5 is 22,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. It contains about 2 million times the Sun's mass packed into a stellar system only a few tens of light-years across, making it one of the most massive and densely populated globular-cluster-like systems in the Milky Way. This image was created with Hubble data from proposal: 12933 (F. R. Ferraro) and Webb data from proposal: 5502 (F. R. Ferraro).  [Image description: A dramatically crowded starfield that looks like a just-shaken snow globe. The black background of space, which is clearer at the edges, is covered by thousands of tiny white, orange, and blue points of light, which are stars. The stars are most concentrated in the centre, forming a roughly circular orb, and sparser at the edges of the image. Several larger orange stars, particularly those largest near the edges of the frame, have prominent diffraction spikes.] Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, G. Zullo (University of Bologna), F. R. Ferraro (University of Bologna). Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI)

NGC 246 and the Dying Star

Terzan 5, a newly reclassified star cluster, lies within the crowded central region of our Milky Way galaxy.

The scene starts with a ground-based image of our Milky Way and zooms in on and circles Terzan 5, ending with the composite image of the star system from the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes.

Moon Joy June artists!  The prompt for this week is “Crew.” Coincidentally, we announced the Artemis III crew last week! These four astronauts will practice docking the Orion spacecraft with two lunar landers in low Earth orbit. While Artemis III will not land on the Moon, this mission will test the complex capabilities we need to return humanity there — this time to stay.

Meet the Artemis III crew:

Commander Randy Bresnik was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2004. Bresnik completed his first spaceflight on STS-129 in 2009 — this was the 31st shuttle flight to the International Space Station. In 2017, Bresnik served as Flight Engineer aboard the Soyuz 51S and Expedition 52 as well as Commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 53.

Pilot Luca Parmitano was selected as a European Space Agency astronaut in May 2009. In 2011, he served as a flight engineer to Italian space agency ASI's first long-duration mission on the International Space Station. He was also the third European and first Italian to command the space station during Expedition 61, which began in 2019 and ended in 2020.

Mission specialist Andre Douglas was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2021. Upon selection, Douglas was a senior professional staff member at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab working on maritime robotics, planetary defense, and space exploration missions. He served as a backup crew member for NASA’s Artemis II mission. Artemis III will be Douglas’ first spaceflight.

Mission specialist Frank Rubio was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2017. He lived and worked aboard the International Space Station between 2022 and 2023, breaking the record for the longest single duration spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut with a mission duration of 371 days. Dr. Rubio is a board-certified family physician and flight surgeon. 

Wednesday SpaceTime 20260617 Series 29 Episode 72

Our ever-changing Milky Way Galaxy

New observations are showing astronomers how our galaxy the Milky Way is being slowly changed through its gravitational interactions with our nearby neighbouring satellite dwarf galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud.

How Jupiter may have helped life start on Earth

A new study suggests the solar system’s largest planet Jupiter may have provided some of the key ingredients for life to Earth.

Astronauts on the space station prepare for emergency evacuation

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station ordered to prepare of emergency evacuation of the orbiting outpost as cosmonauts began working to try and repair a growing leak in the Russian Zvezda service module.

The Science Report

Global warming reaches 1.37°C above pre industrial levels in 2025.

A new AI study claims laser-powered engines could one day support ‘intelligent’ 6G networks.

Kids with smartphone aren’t more likely to end up depressed or overweight, but will be more sleepy.

Alex on Tech computer tablet sales continue to rise.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

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Colorful Clouds Near Rho Ophiuchi

M20: The Trifid Nebula