ESA

The most comprehensive picture of the Milky Way just got more detailed. Gaia's third data release covers almost 2 billion stars, including their makeup and movements, plus new catalogs of starquakes, binary systems, variable stars and other objects.

With the invasion of Ukraine severing its cooperations with Russia's Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA) is now considering alternatives to get its ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars without Russian support hardware.

Since launching in February of 2020, the Solar Orbiter probe has been zeroing in on the Sun and has now used its advanced ultraviolet imager to capture the highest-resolution image ever of its outer atmosphere.

The James Webb Space Telescope has snapped its first in-focus image. With this milestone, the telescope is now set to meet or even exceed its original science goals. It was also recently spotted by another spacecraft in the area.

Research sponsored by ESA aims to develop a method to not only detect dangerous superoxide soils on the Moon and Mars that could imperil astronauts, but also a way to turn these hazards into oxygen farms for future missions.

The war in Ukraine is having an interplanetary impact. Deteriorating relations between Russia and Europe mean the joint ESA/Roscosmos ExoMars rover mission faces a launch delay that could set back its Red Planet landing by at least two years.

Astronomers had a tense January, as a newly discovered space rock became the riskiest asteroid in a decade – then hid behind the Moon for a week. Thankfully, further observations have found that it poses no risk to Earth when it swings by next year.

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft has captured a dramatic image of a giant eruption from the Sun. ESA says this solar prominence, which luckily wasn't pointing at Earth, is the largest ever observed with the full solar disk in a single image.

The environmental impacts of iceberg A-68 are still being assessed. A new study has calculated that the largest chunk, A-68A, released billions of tonnes of freshwater into the sea near a marine nature reserve, with untold effects on the ecosystem.

NASA's US$10 billion James Webb Space Telescope has completed its final deployment without a mishap. Starting today at 8:53 am EST, the starboard wing of the 21-ft gold-plated primary mirror began to swing, locking into position about 4 hours later.

The James Webb Space Telescope hasn't even finished unfurling itself after its December 25 launch and NASA says that its mission could already be extended beyond 10 years thanks to excess fuel for its onboard thrusters.

One of the most ambitious space projects since the Apollo era roared into space today as NASA's long-delayed James Webb Space Telescope lifted off at 7:20 am EST atop an Ariane 5 rocket from ESA's Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana.