↖️ The Space Telescope Science Institute is the Science Operations Center for NASA's Webb, Hubble, and the upcoming Roman space telescopes, and the Mission Operations Center for Webb. 🔭 We help humanity explore the universe with advanced space telescopes and a large data archive.

Me(w)ow! 🐈 The #NASAWebb mid-infrared light image revealed a never-seen-before sight: a cat tail-like structure extending from the secondary debris disk of star system Beta Pictoris. Scientists estimate this feature extends 10 billion miles (20 billion km): https://bit.ly/44fpYXl

While the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is being readied for launch, news releases in 2025 focused on what the observatory will study. Roman will devote about 75% of its observing time during its primary mission to conducting three core community surveys. 🔭

What a year for the James Webb Space Telescope! From identifying frozen water in a young star system to wowing us with great images of the distant universe, Webb has exceeded our expectations in 2025. 🔭

2025 was a stellar year for the Hubble Space Telescope! From tracking "blue lurker" stars to catching colliding asteroids in nearby Fomalhaut, Hubble has added to its list of discoveries from the last three decades. 🔭

What a year for the James Webb Space Telescope! From identifying frozen water in a young star system to wowing us with great images of the distant universe, Webb has exceeded our expectations in 2025. 🔭 https://youtube.com/shorts/kf-mjdxK6KM

2025 was a stellar year for the Hubble Space Telescope! From tracking "blue lurker" stars to catching colliding asteroids in nearby Fomalhaut, Hubble has added to its list of discoveries from the last three decades. 🔭 https://youtube.com/shorts/p_i9ffClogM

Before we ring in the new year, let’s talk about the Ring Nebula. #NASAWebb observed this planetary nebula in 2022, showing its filamentary structure, hot gas, and arcs in great detail. The Ring Nebula is located approximately 2,500 light-years away. Credit: ESA, NASA, CSA.

ICYMI: Hubble has revealed the largest found chaotic birthplace of planets. The telescope identified the largest known protoplanetary disk—spanning an astonishing 400 billion miles, roughly 40 times the diameter of our solar system. 🔭 🧪

Hubble saw asteroids collide at nearby star Fomalhaut for the first time! 🎬 Watch the science animation of the collision, and click on the link in the video for the Hubble image. 🔭

Each of the arcs in this image are distant background galaxies that appear bent around the massive, white galaxy cluster Abell S1063. This #NASAWebb observation reveals many previously unseen galaxies. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, H. Atek, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb); R. Endsley.

Hubble has imaged the largest planet-forming disk ever seen! At 400 billion miles wide, it is roughly 40 times the diameter of our solar system. The disk is unexpectedly chaotic and turbulent, offering new insights into how planetary systems form: https://bit.ly/477sQ9b 🔭 🧪

This image of MACS 0416 from #NASAWebb and Hubble shows two galaxy clusters in the process of combining. Their mass magnifies the light from more distant background galaxies, helping astronomers identify distant supernovas and even individual stars: bit.ly/4qSNy5T 🔭

This isn’t a scene of holiday lights gone awry—it’s cold dust in two galaxies! #NASAWebb’s mid-infrared observations uniquely capture the dust in exquisite detail. See how the pair looks when visible and UV light are added from Hubble: https://bit.ly/4oxgK0u

Hubble has imaged the largest planet-forming disk ever seen! At 400 billion miles wide, it is roughly 40 times the diameter of our solar system. The disk is unexpectedly chaotic and turbulent, offering new insights into how planetary systems form: https://bit.ly/477sQ9b 🔭 🧪

We have a last-minute gift idea for the space lover in your life! 🎁 Print and frame this poster featuring an image of Pismis 24—a sparkling scene of star birth—captured by #NASAWebb. The holiday clock is ticking—download the poster now: https://bit.ly/4jfYYNM 🔭

How can you use the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope? Once Roman begins its science operations in 2027, all of its data will be available freely and rapidly—there is no proprietary period. This is a survey mission, so there will be quite a lot to review: bit.ly/4pIeaFJ 🔭 ☄️

Flying through #Dulles Airport this week? Don't forget to check out the new James Webb Space Telescope exhibit in the corridor between the Metro station and the main terminal. If you missed it, you can still read about it: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-403 🔭

We’re going back to the late 1900s! 🧓🏻 In 1994, astronomers found conclusive evidence for a supermassive black hole in the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 in Hubble images: https://go.nasa.gov/43c9C1d 🔭 🧪

NEWS: For the first time, astronomers using Hubble have witnessed catastrophic collisions in a nearby planetary system around the star Fomalhaut. As shown in this animation, the evidence is in the form of expanding dust clouds: https://bit.ly/42yjnFL 🔭 🧪

TODAY: Dr. Stefanie Milam will discuss how the James Webb Space Telescope is revealing details across the Solar System that were not previously known—at 4 p.m. ET.

Expansive near-infrared views of the Milky Way taken by #NASARoman are now formally defined and the planning is underway. Learn about all the science that will be made possible by Roman’s Galactic Plane General Astrophysics Survey: bit.ly/4aU4Mdq 🔭☄️

Space Telescope Science Institute's Brandon Lawton joined The Walters Art Museum last week to discuss how artists and scientists use light, from creating spectacular visuals to understanding our place in the universe.

In “an absolute surprise,” #NASAWebb has uncovered a bizarre, lemon-shaped exoplanet with an exotic helium-and-carbon-dominated atmosphere unlike any ever seen before. The finding is shaking up theories about planet formation: https://bit.ly/48Fxopu 🔭 🧪

Space Telescope Science Institute staff took part in the Annual Mayor's Christmas Parade in Baltimore this weekend. Floats included replicas as the Hubble, James Webb and Nancy Grace Roman space telescopes.

Dr. Nancy Grace Roman is known as the "mother of Hubble." She was the first female executive at NASA and became the first Chief of Astronomy. The telescope named in her honor will launch by May 2027. 🔭

Why will #NASARoman map millions of galaxies and reveal bubble-like cosmic voids? The details of these voids can tell us more about the mysterious force known as dark energy that is causing the universe’s expansion to accelerate: https://bit.ly/4p9sDKI 🔭 🧪

Why will #NASARoman map millions of galaxies and reveal bubble-like cosmic voids? The details of these voids can tell us more about the mysterious force known as dark energy that is causing the universe’s expansion to accelerate: https://bit.ly/4p9sDKI 🔭 🧪

SAVE THE DATE: Dr. Stefanie Milam will discuss how #NASAWebb is revealing details across the Solar System that were not previously known—December 17 at 4 p.m. ET.

Explore the universe in data-based 3D science visualizations, dive deep into images from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, learn how galaxies are made, and watch lectures on all things astronomy! 🔭 🧪 ✅ Subscribe to your new favorite YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@spacetelescopevision

#NASAWebb has detected a thick blanket of gas surrounding the distant lava world TOI-561 b, challenging the idea that small planets so close to their stars are not able to sustain atmospheres: https://bit.ly/3MvZQRQ 🔭 🧪

Children can try these astronomy activities inspired by women astronomers, including one from the Space Telescope Science Institute: What Can Space Telescopes See?

Yes, you are looking up—WAY UP! Hubble captured bright, actively forming stars illuminating gas clouds that are 160,000 light-years away in another galaxy. The stars sculpt clumps of dust with powerful UV light—and will keep at it for millions of years. Credit: NASA, ESA.

Improvements ahead! A team at STScI recently launched a full suite of enhanced Jupyter Notebooks for scientific analyses with Hubble. The upgrades improve the functionality of the repository, as well as the DrizzlePac software suite: https://bit.ly/3XJAXVh 🔭 🧪 ☄️

This two-part illustration represents supernova GRB 250314A as it was exploding and three months after that when #NASAWebb observed it. Webb confirmed the supernova occurred when the universe was only 730 million years old. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Leah Hustak (STScI).

Another #NASAWebb record breaker: a supernova that existed only 730 million years after the big bang! Learn how Webb delivered the conclusive evidence when it followed up on a fleeting event known as a gamma-ray burst: https://bit.ly/3Y782ul 🔭 🧪

Wonder Bound—the product of a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and the Vatican Observatory—brings images from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes to a historic venue. 🔭 🧪

Scientists say the best explanation for an extraordinary gamma-ray burst is that a black hole consumed a star, but they disagree on exactly how it happened. Astronomers have been analyzing data from observatories, including #NASAWebb, as they try to work out what was responsible for the outburst. 🔭

ICYMI: Take a look around three of the four dust shells sent out by two Wolf-Rayet stars in the Apep system. This science visualization uses data from mid-infrared observations by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Hubble reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on November 30. At the time, the comet was about 178 million miles (286 million kilometers) from Earth. Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light: https://go.nasa.gov/4iCU2lH 🔭 🧪

Check out STScI's Brandon Lawton on a special tour at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore on Thursday, Dec. 11, and learn how artists and scientists use light, from creating spectacular visuals to understanding our place in the universe! The event is free, registering in advance is recommended. 🔭

#NASAWebb and Keck teamed up to study Saturn’s moon Titan in 2023. By combining the capabilities of these two telescopes, scientists saw evidence of convection activity among clouds, which seem to rise, in the northern hemisphere: https://bit.ly/3LSHIRM 🔭 🧪

NASA has completed the construction of #NASARoman! Last month, technicians joined the inner and outer portions of the observatory in Maryland. After final testing, Roman will move to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations in summer 2026: https://go.nasa.gov/48EqnE8 🔭 🧪

Hubble reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on November 30. At the time, the comet was about 178 million miles (286 million kilometers) from Earth. Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light: https://go.nasa.gov/4iCU2lH 🔭 🧪

Carnegie Science's Peter Senchyna presented how the James Webb Space Telescope's observations can revolutionize our understanding of the enigmatic first few generations of massive stars. The lecture was held today at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. 🔭 🧪

Visit the shuttle that took Hubble to space! In 1990, Hubble was released into Earth’s orbit from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Since 2012, Discovery has been on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. Credit: NASM/NASA. 🔭 🧪

And Hubble has been making history ever since! 🔭

🚨 Our fascinating Public Lecture Series is now on YouTube! We currently have the 2021-2025 lectures available to watch. 🔬

The Carina Nebula is a vast, star-forming region where new stars form out of dense, dark clouds of gas and dust. Tall pillars like Mystic Mountain form when dense pockets of gas resist that erosion. This visualization separates the layers of the nebula to create depth from the Hubble image. 🔭 🧪

Star power! ✨ This 2023 #NASAWebb image shows globular cluster NGC 6440, a dense collection of old stars bound together by gravity. NGC 6440 is an intriguing environment to study because of its location near our galaxy’s central region. Credit: ESA, NASA & CSA, P. Freire. 🔭 🧪