Galaxies warp and multiply as if in a house of mirrors in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released on Sept. 29, 2026.
The brilliant golden galaxies seen here are part of a galaxy cluster called MACS J0454.1-0300. The orange galaxies bunched together on one side of the image, however, are not actually part of the cluster, but rather galaxies much farther away whose light has been bent and magnified by gravitational lensing. This phenomenon occurs when the enormous mass of a foreground object such as a galaxy cluster bends and magnifies the light from a more distant object in the background.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft is seen moments before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California in this Oct. 8, 2026, photograph. Aboard were NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 members NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The four spent nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station.
NASA is advancing American leadership in space by taking the next step toward a future where commercial space stations lead the way in low Earth orbit. On Friday, the agency released its final Request for Proposals inviting industry to submit plans for the next generation of commercial space stations.
“In alignment with the President’s National Space Policy, NASA is committed to maintaining a sustained American presence in low Earth orbit long after the International Space Station retires,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “We will continue to need a place to conduct research, develop technologies, train crews, and prepare for missions to the Moon and Mars. Commercial space stations may provide that capability while creating new opportunities for American industry and allowing NASA to concentrate more of our resources on the near-impossible missions ahead.”
Building on the agency’s Ignition event earlier this year, NASA regularly has engaged with private industry to shape the agency’s future direction in low Earth orbit. This included publishing two Requests for Information in March to gather industry’s perspective on low Earth orbit destinations and transportation. The agency also published a draft Request for Proposals in July, followed by an industry day and one-on-one meetings that allowed interested companies to review and comment on the planned acquisition approach.
“We’ve made it clear that NASA will never give up its presence in low Earth orbit,” said Isaacman. “Since Ignition, we have spent a lot of time listening to industry and working through what it will take to make this transition successful. The opportunity is significant, but the economics ultimately have to work. We want to see credible plans, strong technical execution, and companies prepared to invest in destinations that can serve NASA while developing additional customers and markets of their own.”
Proposals are due Tuesday, Dec. 8, with contract awards expected in spring 2027.
Under the solicitation, NASA outlines requirements for companies interested in designing, building, testing, certifying, and operating commercial low Earth orbit destinations capable of providing end-to-end destination and transportation services for human spaceflight use.
NASA intends to award firm-fixed-price, multi-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts supporting development, certification, and services for continued low Earth orbit research and exploration. This will allow NASA to select two or more contractors through early development, followed by a competitive task order for final design, test, and evaluation, as well as certification and services from one or more contractors.
Learn more about NASA’s missions on the agency’s website:
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
The Saturn System Smörgåsbord
Explanation: How was the Saturn system imaged so clearly? Astrophotographer Tom Williams captured such exquisite details due to one night of exceptional atmospheric conditions above the United Kingdom. This means more than a cloudless sky. Pockets of air at different temperatures and densities move around and bend light as it travels through Earth’s atmosphere, distorting astronomy images. This is called “seeing.” Less atmospheric turbulence means clearer images. The astrophotographer reduced the impact of seeing with the lucky imaging technique: thousands of short-exposure images are taken very quickly with a high-speed camera and the clearest images are added up. Which object in this smörgåsbord interests you? Perhaps Titan or the icy stripes of Enceladus? Maybe the gaps and spokes in Saturn’s rings? Saturn’s opposition, when Earth passes in between the planet and the Sun, occurred on October 4th. Due to the planet’s proximity and full illumination from the Sun, now is a great time of year to observe it!
A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft departs from the International Space Station on June 16 after undocking from the Harmony module’s forward port. Dragon, packed with completed science experiments and cargo for retrieval and analysis on Earth, parachuted to a splashdown off the coast of southern California the following day.
Credit: NASA
NASA and SpaceX are targeting 6:33 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 13, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment, including the final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, to the space station. This is the 35th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital complex for NASA.
NASA also will host a media teleconference on Thursday, Oct. 8 that will preview the cargo resupply flight, as well as provide a post-splashdown update for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, which will have returned to Earth from the space station Thursday morning.
Loaded with more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Dragon will dock autonomously around 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
NASA’s live launch and docking coverage will stream through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online:
In addition to the solar arrays, the Dragon spacecraft will deliver hardware to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity to help restore vision on Earth and 3D heart tissues models to advance large‑scale drug testing on future missions. The spacecraft will carry materials to study how a new type of glass forms in microgravity and brain organoids that could reveal treatment targets for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis.
The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until mid-November when it will depart the orbiting laboratory and return to Earth with time-critical research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California.
NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Thursday, Oct. 8
1:15 p.m.: International Space Station briefing for Crew-12 return, and SpaceX’s 35th Commercial Resupply Services launch with the following participants:
Bill Spetch, deputy manager of Commercial, Low Earth Orbit Program
Dr. Liz Warren, deputy chief scientist, NASA’s International Space Station Office
Lee Echerd, senior mission manager, Customer Operations and Integration, SpaceX
Andreas Mogensen, leader, Human Exploration Group, ESA (European Space Agency)
To participate in the teleconference, media must contact the NASA Johnson Space Center newsroom for call details by 12 p.m., Oct. 8, at: [email protected] or 281-483-5111. To ask questions, media must dial in no later than 10 minutes before the start of the call. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online.
Tuesday, Oct. 13
6:15 a.m.: Launch coverage begins
6:33 a.m.: Launch
Thursday, Oct. 15
9:15 a.m.: Arrival coverage begins
11 a.m.: Docking
NASA website launch coverage
Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 6 a.m. on Oct. 13, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video on NASA+ and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the NASA Kennedy Space Center newsroom at 321-867-2468. Follow countdown coverage on our International Space Station blog for updates.
Attend launch virtually
Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following launch.
Watch, engage on social media
Let people know you’re watching the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by following and tagging these accounts:
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, seated left, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, seated right, hold the signed Memorandum of Understanding, “Accelerating American Leadership in Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion,” as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Michael Kratsios, looks on, during the Golden Age Summit, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington.
NASA/Bill Ingalls
As the Golden Age of deep-space exploration begins, NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy are advancing the development of safe, reliable, next-generation nuclear technologies for space.
Together, the agencies will supercharge civil space exploration, unlock bold scientific discovery, and solidify American leadership in space nuclear power and propulsion.
“We are entering the ‘Nuclear NASA-era,’ which represents a major transformation for space exploration,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Nuclear power will allow us to go farther, operate longer, and field more capable spacecraft and instruments than ever before. The work we’re doing today is laying the foundation for the fission-powered spacecraft of tomorrow and opening an entirely new frontier for exploration and discovery.”
The new Memorandum of Understanding, “Accelerating American Leadership in Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion,” was signed Thursday between NASA and DOE, and establishes a framework for end-to-end collaboration. The agreement unites both agencies across the full spectrum of space nuclear development, spanning advanced research and fuel production to rigorous testing, launch integration, and operations. Across all these efforts, an uncompromising commitment to safety remains the central pillar.
The signing took place between Isaacman and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright during the Golden Age Summit, hosted by the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, and is effective Sunday, Nov. 1.
“Thanks to President Trump, America’s nuclear renaissance is reaching a new frontier,” said Wright. “The Energy Department is proud to partner with NASA as we help American space missions reach uncharted territory.”
President Trump’s December 2025 Executive Order on Ensuring American Space Superiority directs NASA to develop a launch-ready lunar surface reactor by 2030, a goal toward which NASA, partnering with DOE, is making steady progress. This pivotal agreement fortifies existing collaborations on fission and radioisotope power systems, propelling NASA’s vision for a sustained human presence on the Moon and accelerating the breakthrough technologies to enable our mission.
When NASA’s Space Reactor‑1 Freedom launches in 2028, nuclear propulsion will advance from laboratory research to operational deep‑space application. This milestone paves the way for Lunar Reactor‑1, the fission surface power system that will sustain the future Moon Base through darkness and shadow. Nuclear power will energize habitats, communications, instruments, rovers, resource usage, and critical lunar infrastructure, and it will be essential for the demanding energy needs of future Mars missions.
Together, SR‑1 and LR‑1 form the foundation of a robust domestic nuclear‑space industrial base. These programs are poised to power permanent lunar outposts, enable exploration of distant worlds, and cement American leadership in space for generations. These endeavors will expand humanity’s reach toward Mars, reinforce American preeminence in deep space, and pioneer innovative technologies that yield benefits here on Earth.
In addition to fission power, NASA continues to expand its use of radioisotope power systems. The Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan, scheduled for launch in 2028, will rely on a Multi‑Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator and 24 Light Weight Radioisotope Heater Units to power and warm the car‑sized rotorcraft. Dragonfly will fly to various locations on Saturn’s moon Titan and investigate the moon’s habitability.
NASA and DOE additionally plan to support ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin Mars rover studying the potential for past and current life on the Red Planet, by providing 24 similar heater units to maintain instrument temperatures in the extreme cold of the Martian environment.
Webb Measures Distance to Farthest Fast Radio Burst, Suggesting Origin
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) was able to detect the host galaxy of the fast radio burst called FRB 20240304B, whose location is shown by the white cross. They found it is a small dwarf galaxy actively forming stars.
Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Themiya Nanayakkara (USYD); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
First discovered in 2007, fast radio bursts are enigmatic, millisecond-long flashes of radio emission from the distant universe. Their origin remains uncertain, particularly since most are seen once and never again. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed the host galaxy of the most distant fast radio burst (FRB) seen to date. Their finding has implications for what kind of energetic event creates these bursts.
“What makes fast radio bursts interesting is that we don’t know what generates them. We have theories for what objects produce them, but we don’t have conclusive proof,” said Manisha Caleb of the University of Sydney, lead author on the study published Thursday in the journal Science.
The MeerTRAP team used the MeerKAT telescope to detect the burst on March 4, 2024, leading to its designation as FRB 20240304B. The radio data from this burst suggested that it was extremely distant, possibly the most distant one seen to date. To confirm that distance, though, astronomers would need to study its host galaxy. Although they knew the location of the FRB very precisely, the world’s largest ground-based telescopes could not see any galaxy at that spot in the sky. As a result, the team turned to the Webb telescope.
Image: FRB 20240304B (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) was able to detect the host galaxy of the fast radio burst called FRB 20240304B, whose location is shown by the white cross. They found it is a small dwarf galaxy actively forming stars.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Themiya Nanayakkara (USYD); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument detected a galaxy in the right location, and its NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument provided a precise measurement of the galaxy’s redshift: 2.148, corresponding to a time just 3 billion years after the big bang. The vast majority of FRBs detected to date occurred billions of years later in cosmic history.
The team discovered that the host galaxy of FRB 20240304B was not typical of other galaxies with FRBs. Most FRB galaxies are massive star-forming galaxies, but the galaxy they found was 1,000 times less massive than they expected.
“We thought it would be a big, nicely formed galaxy with lots of stars, and instead it was a little dwarf galaxy, although it was actively forming stars,” said Caleb.
“The host sticks out in the whole galaxy sample that we have. And it definitely was not what we were expecting,” said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, a co-author on the paper. “This combination of using the MeerTRAP project on the MeerKAT telescope to discover and localize these distant bursts and Webb to study their hosts is very exciting.”
The galaxy existed at the height of “cosmic noon” – a period in the history of the universe when star formation was at its peak. The galaxy’s rate of star formation suggested that the majority of its stars may have formed within just 30 million years.
This has important implications for the origin of fast radio bursts. One theory suggests that FRBs may originate from the merger of two neutron stars. However, the process of orbiting neutron stars gradually approaching closer and closer until they collide is expected to take billions of years. As a result, FRBs would be expected to be associated with older galaxies containing more evolved stellar populations.
A second theory proposes that an FRB can originate from a single, young, highly magnetic neutron star known as a magnetar through a mechanism like starquakes. In that case, once a massive star explodes as a supernova and leaves behind a magnetar, an FRB might occur relatively quickly with no large time delay. As a result, FRBs would also be expected to be found in younger galaxies like the host of FRB 20240304B.
“Our work suggests that it’s very unlikely that this FRB was produced by a merger,” said Caleb.
“Our results further show the amazing capability of Webb where we can push boundaries beyond what was previously possible,” said co-author Themiya Nanayakkara of the University of Sydney, Australia.
In addition to being a record-holder, the new FRB enabled the team to learn more about the billions of light-years of apparently empty space between the burst and Earth.
“A fast radio burst is almost like a cosmic flashlight. It lights up everything along the path. It carries an imprint of everything that it travels through, so you can use it to trace the ‘cosmic web’ – the otherwise invisible matter and structures that it encounters along the way,” said co-author J. Xavier Prochaska of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The team found the imprint of two cosmic structures on the FRB’s signal – one previously unknown galaxy cluster at a redshift of 0.3 (about 3.5 billion light-years from Earth), and the nearby Virgo Cluster, which is located about 54 million light-years from Earth.
Image: Farthest Fast Radio Burst Host Galaxy Spectrum
Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope were able to study the host galaxy of the most distant known fast radio burst (FRB). They confirmed it has a cosmological redshift of 2.148 and that the FRB occurred just 3 billion years after the big bang.
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI); Science: Manisha Caleb (SIfA)
In the future, the team is excited about the potential to discover more distant FRBs. They estimate that the MeerKAT telescope may be able to detect and localize several FRBs per year at a redshift greater than 1.0, meaning they existed more than halfway back to the start of the universe. As other new radio telescope facilities and instruments come online, that discovery pace may grow. The Webb telescope will be essential for characterizing those distant host galaxies.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and Spanish translation links.
Related Images & Videos
FRB 20240304B (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) was able to detect the host galaxy of the fast radio burst called FRB 20240304B, whose location is shown by the white cross. They found it is a small dwarf galaxy actively forming stars.
Farthest Fast Radio Burst Host Galaxy Spectrum
Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope were able to study the host galaxy of the most distant known fast radio burst (FRB). They confirmed it has a cosmological redshift of 2.148 and that the FRB occurred just 3 billion years after the big bang.
FRB 20240304B (NIRCam Compass Image)
This image of the host galaxy of fast radio burst FRB 20240304B, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.
NASA Advances LISA Mission Contributions With New Test Telescope
NASA has taken the next step in the process of developing a new all-glass telescope for the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, a space observatory designed to detect ripples in space-time called gravitational waves.
L3Harris Technologies will design, assemble, and integrate the new telescope for NASA. Called the Engineering Test Unit, this contribution represents a final step toward the future production of flight hardware.
Led by ESA (European Space Agency), the LISA mission is slated for launch in the mid-2030s. As a collaborative partner, NASA is contributing the telescopes, other critical hardware, and engineering and scientific support as part of its mission to better understand how the universe works.
This artist’s concept shows the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission at work. Telescopes aboard each of the three spacecraft simultaneously transmit and receive infrared laser beams, measuring their mutual distances to extremely high precision across 1.6 million miles (2.5 million kilometers).
ESA
The LISA mission will deploy a trio of satellites into an Earth-following orbit, creating a vast triangular array stretching 1.6 million miles (2.5 million kilometers) on each side. Each satellite will include two telescopes that will use infrared laser beams to simultaneously transmit and receive signals between adjacent spacecraft. Through these telescopes, the spacecraft will measure miniscule changes in their relative distances, the signals of passing gravitational waves.
“These changes are tiny, smaller than the width of a helium atom, but through them LISA will reveal a sea of low-frequency gravitational waves that we cannot currently detect through facilities on Earth,” said Ira Thorpe, the NASA project scientist for the mission at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The LISA mission will be able to detect mergers of monster black holes billions of light-years away, map compact pairs of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and stellar-mass black holes in our own cosmic backyard, and perhaps provide new insights into gravity itself.”
Each telescope will be entirely made of an amber-colored ceramic-glass composite called Zerodur, which is widely used in high-precision applications because it resists changes in shape across a wide range of temperatures. In 2024, L3Harris delivered a prototype telescope to NASA that served as an engineering development unit for this next step.
A technician in a clean room at NASA Goddard inspects the prototype LISA telescope delivered by L3Harris in May 2024. The entire telescope is made from an amber-colored glass-ceramic that resists changes in shape over a wide temperature range. The mirror’s surface is coated in gold.
“We’ve put the prototype through rigorous testing, and we’re bringing everything we’ve learned into this new telescope,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, lead for the LISA Telescope program at NASA Goddard. “This will be our last pre-flight unit and our first optical telescope delivery to ESA.” Earlier this year, in June, the team delivered a structural model of the telescope made from metal instead of glass.
Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity and first detected by ground-based observatories in 2015. The waves form whenever massive objects accelerate, such as two stars in orbit around each other. They flow across space-time, moving at the speed of light, and are unaffected by objects they encounter along the way. These properties make them a valuable tool for probing the cosmos.
Each of the three LISA spacecraft contains a free-floating gold-platinum cube called a proof mass. The spacecraft will fly around the cube and manage its environment so the cube falls through space only under the influence of gravity. In 2016, ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission showed that it was possible to reduce non-gravitational forces on the proof masses to the level needed for gravitational wave detection.
Additional NASA contributions include the laser system, devices to manage the buildup of electric charge on the proof masses, data analysis for identifying and characterizing individual gravitational wave sources, and additional scientific and engineering expertise.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev aboard in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles on Oct. 8, 2026.
Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
After more than seven months aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission safely splashed down Thursday in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles. The crew members will discuss their science mission during a news conference at 3:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 15, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“Jessica, Jack, Sophie, and Andrey spent 237 days living and working in orbit, traveled more than 100 million miles, advanced important science, and returned safely home because of the extraordinary expertise and competence of thousands across NASA, SpaceX, and our international partners,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Building the capability, experience, and confidence to do this repeatedly is exactly what will allow us to go farther, and I am grateful to Crew-12 and their families for their service to humanity’s greatest adventure.”
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev returned to Earth at 8:34 a.m. PDT. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew shortly after. Following standard postflight medical screenings, the crew will fly to shore before returning to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“NASA’s activities supporting the International Space Station — transporting crew, conducting impactful research, and maintaining critical national assets — enable the science, engineering, and risk‑reduction needed for future missions across the solar system,” said Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. “We’re grateful for the dedication across the human spaceflight team that makes this possible, and we’re thrilled to welcome Jessica, Jack, Sophie, and Andrey home.”
During their 237-day mission, the four crew members traveled more than 100 million miles and completed more than 3,792 orbits around Earth. The mission was the second for Meir and Fedyaev and the first for Hathaway and Adenot. Crew-12 lifted off at 5:15 a.m. EST on Feb. 13 and docked to the orbiting laboratory a day later.
Crew‑12 logged hundreds of hours of scientific research to support human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and advance benefits for people on Earth. The crew members’ work included testing stem cell production for cell‑based therapies, demonstrating on‑demand IV fluid generation for future missions, and studying how the bacteria that causes pneumonia can lead to long‑term heart damage. The crew also conducted nutrition-focused research and examined how physical characteristics may affect blood flow during spaceflight to help keep astronauts safe and healthy on future missions. Research conducted aboard the space station advances knowledge and demonstrates new technologies that enable us to prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Meir completed four spacewalks, bringing her career total to seven. That places her third all-time in total spacewalks among women at NASA, behind former agency astronauts Peggy Whitson and Suni Williams. Adenot completed three spacewalks, becoming the first French woman to venture outside the orbital outpost.
United States-based media interested in attending the crew news conference in person with Meir, Hathaway, and Fedyaev, must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 5 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 13, at [email protected]. Media joining by phone must request dial-in details by 9:30 a.m., Oct. 15. To ask a question, media must join no later than 15 minutes before the start of the news conference. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online. Adenot will return to Europe and not be available during the news conference.
NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the International Space Station for research and development by partnering with private U.S. companies, including SpaceX, to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
As it maps the sky, NASA’s SPHEREx telescope is finding thousands of brown dwarfs hiding in the dark. A selection is shown in this collage of observations, listed by spectral type, distance, and temperature in degrees Kelvin.
Zafar Rustamkulov/NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) space telescope is shedding light on brown dwarfs, celestial objects that blur the line between stars and exoplanets. New findings published in The Astrophysical Journal show that these dark and cloudy worlds have chemically rich atmospheres not unlike the giant planets in our own solar system.
First discovered in the 1990s, brown dwarfs form from collapsing clouds of gas, like stars do, but they aren’t hefty enough to sustain hydrogen fusion in their cores. These dimly glowing balls of warm gas also share characteristics with Jupiter and Saturn. In contrast to most planets, however, brown dwarfs drift in darkness, ungoverned by a host star and heated entirely from within.
“They’re kind of goth,” said Zafar Rustamkulov, lead author of the new study and a scientist at IPAC, Caltech’s science and data center in Pasadena, California. “Unlike exoplanets, free-floating brown dwarfs are completely independent celestial objects that will fade into eternity alone. We’re still learning how complex they are.”
Untold numbers of brown dwarfs roam the cosmos, like the one in this artist’s concept. But only a few dozen have been studied in detail with space-based telescopes. With the help of NASA’s SPHEREx, scientists are in the process of analyzing thousands more.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Only a few dozen of these “dark wanderers” have been studied in detail with space-based telescopes. Astronomers want to observe more of them in the wild because much of our understanding of their makeup, storminess, and evolution comes from theoretical models.
Enter NASA’s SPHEREx, an infrared space telescope launched in March 2025 and managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
The study authors analyzed SPHEREx observations of 37 nearby brown dwarfs spanning the full brown dwarf temperature range, from about 4,000 to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 to minus 20 degrees Celsius). The telescope measures their brightness in 102 different colors, from the deepest red our eyes can see, to the invisible heat of infrared light, creating a spectrum. These spectra revealed to the study authors chemically rich atmospheres harboring water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane.
“We’re seeing the signatures of these molecules and how they change from object to object across the entire temperature regime,” said study coauthor J. Davy Kirkpatrick, a scientist at Caltech’s IPAC. “Our paper concentrated on just three dozen, but we have thousands more that we are in the process of analyzing. I really want to see what bounds the universe places on the variety of brown dwarfs.”
“From orbit, SPHEREx sees wavelengths of light that are basically impossible to see with telescopes on the ground because water in Earth’s atmosphere absorbs them,” Rustamkulov said. “We are picking up light from the deep, red clouds of brown dwarfs all over the sky.”
Sweet spot
Spotting brown dwarfs is something of a side project for SPHEREx. The space telescope takes about 3,600 unique images per day to stitch into maps of the entire sky. Knowing where hundreds of millions of galaxies are distributed across the cosmos will help scientists reconstruct what happened in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang. As it scans the sky, the telescope also is searching for the chemical ingredients of life and finding interstellar ice that could one day seed oceans on distant worlds.
For years, brown dwarfs have been spotted by other observatories, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and retired Spitzer Space Telescope. But thanks to its spectral coverage, SPHEREx is now imaging thousands of them for the first time in a fruitful region of the electromagnetic spectrum that spans deep red and infrared wavelengths of light.
Thanks to its spectral coverage, NASA’s SPHEREx is revealing molecules like methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) in brown dwarf atmospheres. The telescope’s view of three different brown dwarfs appears on the left; the depictions on the right imagine them as Jupiter-like worlds.
Zafar Rustamkulov/International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) et al. Acknowledgments: M. Zamani
At those wavelengths, molecules carve out distinct absorption patterns in the light shining out to space. The patterns change as brown dwarfs grow older and colder. Some of the brown dwarfs observed by SPHEREx are in a dynamic stage of life when their exotic clouds thin out, giving way to methane-rich atmospheres.
“The state-of-the-art models are capturing the general chemical trend, but when it comes to these cloudy transitions, the models are struggling to match the data,” said Rustamkulov. “No two brown dwarfs are alike. Even at the same temperature, their spectra look quite distinct.”
“The findings are a call to action to explore even more of these dark worlds,” said Kirkpatrick. “This journey has turned many of us into accidental meteorologists. We know how hard it is to predict weather on our own planet, and we realize it’s going to be just as challenging to explain the phenomena we see in these bizarre, cold objects.”
More about SPHEREx
The mission is managed by JPL for NASA’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The telescope and the spacecraft bus were built by BAE Systems. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data is being conducted by a team of scientists at 13 institutions across the United States and in South Korea and Taiwan, led by Jamie Bock, principal investigator, who is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment, and by JPL’s Olivier Doré, the project scientist. Data is processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The SPHEREx dataset is freely available to scientists and the public.
For more information about the SPHEREx mission visit:
