Nerdvana • U of A

What looks like craggy mountains on a starry night is actually the edge of a nearby star-forming region, NGC 3324, in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, it reveals previously obscured areas of star birth. (Photo courtesy NASA)

First images from Webb Telescope leave Arizona contributors ‘speechless’

NASA released five “stunning” full-color images from the telescope showing thousands of far-away galaxies, a dying star, a star being born and a grouping of...

The Near Earth Object Surveyor infrared telescope is moving toward its preliminary design phase, led by University of Arizona professor Amy Mainzer. NASA plans to launch the surveyor in 2026. (Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Arizona professor will lead NASA project to locate menacing objects near Earth

NASA has appointed a professor at the University of Arizona to lead the Near Earth Object Surveyor project.

The “Cigar Galaxy” – or M82 – contains areas of gas that fuel the formation of new stars. In 2024, a small telescope designed by the University of Arizona will be launched to study these gases and help astronomers better understand galaxies. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

UArizona to lead space telescope mission to learn how galaxies evolve, form stars

The University of Arizona was chosen to lead the 2024 NASA mission called Aspera. The mission will help researchers understand the flow of gas around galaxies.

Astronomers discover most distant quasar to date

UArizona astronomers search to answer how galaxies formed millions of years ago after discovering a distant quasar, powered by a black hole.

Ecologists studying the tropical rainforest biome in Biosphere 2 near Tucson say it’s very similar to being in natural rainforests, which absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen on a grand scale. (Photo courtesy of Chris Richards/University of Arizona)

Biosphere 2 study: Tropical forests may be more resilient to rising temperatures than predicted

Researchers discovered at Biosphere 2 near Tucson that tropical forests may be more resilient to warming temperatures than originally thought, but they are...

Final assembly in 2015 of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which launched in 2016. University of Arizona teams had been working on the project for more than a decade when it reached a near-Earth asteroid, Bennu, this week and executed a touch-and-go mission to briefly “tag” the surface, collect soil samples and head back to orbit. (Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin)

University of Arizona team cheers success of asteroid-contact mission

After years of work, $800 million and 200 million miles in space, it all came down to six seconds - the time OSIRIS-REx spent on the surface of near-Earth...

The Colorado River's Lake Powell from the north, taken by the International Space Station. A recent report claiims climate change has played a larger role in declining river flows than earlier thought.

Report: Climate change a growing factor in fall of Colorado River flows

Many factors drive falling Colorado River flows, but climate change plays a larger role than thought and will get worse without action, a recent study says.

NASA prepares the James Webb Space Telescope for launch in October 2018. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

Arizona scientists play key role in NASA’s new Webb telescope

The next generation of space telescope will launch next year, thanks in part to two Arizona scientists who developed key instruments.