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Artist’s impression of our galaxy, the Milky Way, based on data from ESA’s Gaia space telescope.

Farewell, Gaia: spacecraft operations come to an end

27 Mar 2025

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft has been powered down, after more than a decade spent gathering data that are now being used to unravel...

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JADES-GS-z13-1 in the GOODS-S field

Webb Telescope sees galaxy in mysteriously clearing fog of early Universe

26 Mar 2025

Astronomers have identified a bright hydrogen emission from a galaxy in the very early Universe. The surprise finding is challenging researchers to...

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This is a new artist’s impression of our galaxy, the Milky Way, based on data from ESA’s Gaia space telescope.

Last starlight for ground-breaking Gaia

15 Jan 2025

The European Space Agency’s Milky Way-mapper Gaia has completed the sky-scanning phase of its mission, racking up more than three trillion...

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Galaxy NGC 1549, seen today and 13 billion years ago

‘Inside-out’ galaxy growth observed in the early universe

11 Oct 2024

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe the ‘inside-out’ growth of a galaxy in the early universe, only 700...

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Pablo's Galaxy

Astronomers detect black hole ‘starving’ its host galaxy to death

12 Sep 2024

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope to confirm that supermassive black holes can starve their host galaxies of the fuel...

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Deep field image from JWST

Earliest detection of metal challenges what we know about the first galaxies

06 Jun 2024

Astronomers have detected carbon in a galaxy just 350 million years after the Big Bang, the earliest detection of any element in the universe other...

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Infrared image showing JADES-GS-z14-0 galaxy

Earliest, most distant galaxy discovered with James Webb Space Telescope

30 May 2024

The two earliest and most distant galaxies yet confirmed, dating back to only 300 million years after the Big Bang, have been discovered using NASA’s...

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False-colour JWST image of a small fraction of the GOODS South field, with JADES-GS-z7-01-QU highlighted

Astronomers spot oldest ‘dead’ galaxy yet observed

06 Mar 2024

A galaxy that suddenly stopped forming new stars more than 13 billion years ago has been observed by astronomers.

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This image shows the galaxy EGSY8p7, a bright galaxy in the early Universe where light emission is seen from, among other things, excited hydrogen atoms – Lyman-α emission.

Galaxy mergers solve early Universe mystery

18 Jan 2024

A team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to reveal, for the first time, what...

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The GN-z11 galaxy, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

Astronomers detect oldest black hole ever observed

17 Jan 2024

Researchers have discovered the oldest black hole ever observed, dating from the dawn of the universe, and found that it is ‘eating’ its host galaxy...

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Gaia view of Omega Centauri

Latest Gaia data release reveals rare lenses, cluster cores and unforeseen science

10 Oct 2023

The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission has released a goldmine of knowledge about our galaxy and beyond. Among other findings, the star surveyor...

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Artist's impression of the predicted collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda

Dark energy could be measured by studying the galaxy next door

14 Aug 2023

Researchers have found a new way to measure dark energy – the mysterious force that makes up more than two-thirds of the universe and is responsible...

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