Announcements

29 May 2024: - Chris Evans, Paule Sonnentrucker, Macarena Garcia Marin - The 2024 European Astronomical Society (EAS) Annual Meeting will be held on 1–5 July 2024 in Padova, Italy. The scientific programme for the week includes several Symposia and Special Sessions that are centred on the latest results from JWST. We are pleased to announce that ESA will be holding a drop-in session on the JWST data pipeline at 1:15pm on Tuesday 2 July. The objective for this lunch session is to provide an opportunity for you, the user, to be able to ask for help or advice regarding processing of JWST data with the Science Calibration Pipeline. The session will start with a brief summary of the status of the observatory and the data pipeline, and experts from the ESA JWST NIRSpec and MIRI teams will be available to answer your questions. There will also be further opportunities to follow-up with …

29 May 2024: - Francesco D’Eugenio (Cambridge), on behalf of the JADES Consortium - The JWST Advanced Early Extragalactic Survey (JADES) is a collaboration between the Guaranteed Time Observation teams of the NIRCam and NIRSpec instruments. The goal of JADES is to reveal the physical properties of galaxies in the young Universe, from when it was less than two billion years old up to the formation of the first galaxies right after the Cosmic ‘Dark Ages’. JADES makes optimal use of the synergies between NIRCam and NIRSpec to present a complete view of galaxies, combining their morphologies and total fluxes from the imaging, with detailed physical properties that can be measured from rest-frame UV, optical and near-IR spectra. The NIRSpec part of the programme uses the micro-shutter assembly (MSA), which enables observations of more than one hundred targets simultaneously. JADES has observed two tiers in depth: a deep tier, aimed at the faintest …

29 May 2024: - Chris Evans & Paule Sonnentrucker - The Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes VII: Stars, Gas and Dust in the Universe conference was held in Porto, Portugal from 29 April to 2 May 2024. This was the latest in the series of ESA-sponsored conferences on the science from the missions, and was organised in collaboration with STScI and the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto. After much anticipation of the complementary capabilities of Hubble and Webb, we are now in the remarkable period of having these two pioneering observatories in science operations at the same time. The rich scientific programme of the conference emphasised the unique scientific synergies between Hubble and Webb, and with other space and ground-based facilities. The programme featured 22 invited talks, 36 contributed talks, and 22 posters; the full list of talks is available from the conference page. The conference …

7 March 2024: - Chris Evans - The Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes VII: Stars, Gas and Dust in the Universe conference will be held in Porto, Portugal from 29 April to 2 May 2024. This is the latest in our series of ESA-sponsored conferences that showcase the science from these two flagship missions. A particular motivation and focus for the conference is that we are in the remarkable position of having both Hubble and Webb in science operations at the same time. Their unique capabilities are now combining to give us spectacular new views of the Universe, which are complemented by multi-wavelength observations from a diverse range of ground and other space facilities. The objectives of the conference are to: highlight the latest Hubble and Webb results in studies of stars, gas and dust over all scales, with a focus on results with strong synergies between the two …

7 March 2024: - Chris Evans, María Arévalo Sánchez, Deborah Baines, Javier Espinosa Aranda, Mónica Fernández Barreiro, Marcos López-Caniego Alcarria, Bruno Merín Martin, Paule Sonnentrucker - The European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) Science Archive is hosted at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC). Building on the long-standing partnership between NASA and ESA on Hubble, the eHST archive provides a European mirror for the public data in the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The eHST interface has been designed at the ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC) for effective and intuitive exploration of this rich data archive, and includes accompanying catalogues and higher-level data products from MAST. To help maximise the science return from these data, a new visualisation tool for spectroscopy from the COS and STIS instruments has been included in the eHST archive. The new tool enables users to plot the spectra over custom ranges, …

15 December 2023: -Bethany Downer- To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the completion of the first year of science operations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar for 2024 that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions. The 2024 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2023. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below). The images featured in the calendar are as follows: Cover: The subject of the first anniversary image from the James Webb Space Telescope is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross …

15 December 2023: - Chris Evans - We are delighted to announce the latest in our series of ESA-sponsored conferences, in collaboration with STScI, which highlight science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. The Stars, Gas & Dust in the Universe conference will be held in Porto, Portugal from 29 April to 2 May 2024, in the week after the 34th anniversary of Hubble’s launch. After much anticipation of the complementary capabilities of these two pioneering observatories, we are now in the remarkable position of having them both in science operations at the same time. Results from Hubble and Webb are giving us unique views of stars, gas and dust across all distance scales. These span nearby star and planet formation, the properties of the interstellar medium, dust production in supernovae and evolved stars, and star and dust formation in the early Universe. Of course, Hubble and Webb are far from …

15 December 2023: -Bethany Downer- 2023 marked another eventful year for the ESA/Hubble/Webb science outreach team. This year we celebrated the first year of science operations with Webb. Some notable milestones that were shared with the media and the public included Webb’s confirming its first exoplanet, the first detection of any form of light emitted by an exoplanet as small and as cool as the rocky planets in our own Solar System, the investigation of the complex dusty structures of the Fomalhaut system, the confirmation of gas — specifically water vapour — around a comet in the main asteroid belt for the first time, the mapping of a large plume on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, the discovery of a carbon source on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, and Webb’s first detection of a heavy element from a star merger (tellurium). European scientists also made great use of Webb’s instruments to publish a variety …

24 July 2023: -Chris Evans- Two Working Groups (WGs) were recently convened by the Interim Director at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), to provide advice and recommendations on the future use of Hubble and Webb in the key areas of long-term variability monitoring and exoplanet initiatives. The charters for the WGs are available at Strategic Exoplanet Initiatives and Long-term variability monitoring strategies, and their membership includes representatives from the ESA Member States. The WGs have been tasked for their respective topics to seek input from the user community, to identify science themes to prioritise for future programmes, to advise on optimal timing of follow-up observations, and to develop concepts for potentially large-scale Director’s Discretionary programmes. Both WGs have had their initial meetings and begun their work, and are now seeking community input. Strategic Exoplanet Initiatives: The WG has invited community input via a short online survey and/or short white papers (no more …

24 July 2023: -Chris Evans and Paule Sonnentrucker- We are delighted to announce plans for a Masterclass on James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data processing, to be held at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), near Madrid, on 12–14 December 2023. The Masterclass is primarily intended for researchers from across the ESA Member States who have yet to work with JWST data or have had limited experience so far, and want to build their expertise and confidence. The aim is to provide a solid foundation in the basics of the calibration pipeline, to walk participants through examples of science-case-driven data from several of JWST’s observing modes, and to illustrate specific workarounds that can be used to optimise the outcome of particular datasets. Our goal is that those joining the Masterclass will then be better prepared to embark on the analysis of data that have already been taken (or are coming soon in Cycle …

2 May 2023: -Stephane Charlot (Institut d’astrophysique de Paris)- As I write I have just finished my term as a NIRSpec team and ESA representative on the JWST Users Committee (JSTUC). My time on the committee has spanned the intense and remarkable work by all those involved in the project ahead of the launch and during commissioning, and into the tremendously exciting first nine months of science operations. Having attended the First Science Results from JWST Conference at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in December, it was simply incredible to see the impact of this fantastic new observatory across a broad range of topics in just its first few months of operations. The JSTUC was established to provide user advice to the observatory to maximise its scientific performance. The committee meets at least twice a year, typically with a range of presentations over two days on the status of the observatory, news …

2 May 2023: -Chris Evans- Final plans are now coming together for an exciting agenda at this year’s European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting, in Kraków, Poland (10–14 July 2023). Coinciding with the first anniversary of JWST science operations that week, there is a rich scientific programme of JWST results at the meeting. To set the scene at the start of the week there will be a JWST Community Session (Special Session #3) on the first day (10 July 2023). This will provide the community with an update on the observatory status and future science timeline, the European JWST data archive (eJWST), and selected results and lessons learned from some of the European-led Early Release Science programmes. The session will also include generous time for questions and discussion. Let me also draw your attention to the JWST-focused Symposia (S) and Special Sessions (SS) during the week that will feature the exciting science results from …

19 December 2022: -By Bethany Downer and Chris Evans- 2022 marked an eventful year for the ESA/Webb science outreach team. This was kickstarted by the release of Webb’s first images on 11–12 July 2022. These four image releases quickly became recognisable throughout Europe and around the world. Tens of thousands of articles were published online to showcase the telescope’s capabilities, and more than 200 million people were reached by the ESA Webb social media campaigns. As was done for the Hubble 30 celebrations, ESA/Webb invited proposals from organisations, institutions, and groups across Europe to maximise the reach and impact of Webb’s first images with special events. A total of 43 European events were conducted by more than 60 organisations and institutions, and photos from these events can be explored on the ESA/Webb Flickr page. Social media was also active in anticipation of the images being released and following their unveiling, as the world …

19 December 2022: -By Bethany Downer- 2022 was another busy year for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In 2022 scientists throughout Europe published a large number of exciting new results. Of the various ESA/Hubble science releases published this year, some memorable scientific news that garnered particular public interest included Hubble’s detection of the light of Earendel, a star that existed within the first billion years after the Universe’s birth in the Big Bang, and the report of direct evidence for a lone black hole drifting through interstellar space by a precise mass measurement. After 32 years of operation, it’s staggering to consider the magnitude and impact of the telescope’s continuing output of breakthrough results. All of the many beautiful photo releases published this year have been popular with the public. Most notably, Hubble celebrated its 32nd birthday with a galaxy grouping, and teamed up with its new friend in space Webb to observe …

19 December 2022: -By María Arévalo Sánchez, Javier Espinosa Aranda, Mónica Fernández Barreiro, Marcos López-Caniego Alcarria, Francisco Javier Ballester Arenas, Bruno Merín, Chris Evans, Paule Sonnentrucker- We are delighted to announce the release of a new version of the European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) Science Archive, hosted at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid. The ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC) has developed a new infrastructure for the user interface and backend services of the eHST archive, to help maximise the science return of this precious data resource. The eHST archive employs common procedures and tools, originally developed by the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) in close collaboration with ESDC and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute, to synchronise observational metadata and publicly-available data by mirroring the MAST HST archive. With more than 1.5 million observations now completed by Hubble, the new eHST interface has …

19 December 2022: -By Bethany Downer - To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the first year of operations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions for 2023. The 2023 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2022. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below). The images featured in the calendar are as follows: Cover: This landscape of mountains and valleys speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the …

6 October 2022: -By Chris Evans- Following the successful commissioning of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, and its move into science operations, we are already witnessing the first science breakthroughs enabled by its unprecedented infrared sensitivity and observing capabilities. To share some of these new discoveries, we are pleased to announce a conference on the First Science Results from JWST at the Space Telescope Science Institute, in Baltimore, USA, on 12–14 December 2022. With the first science releases and results showcasing the scientific performance of the observatory and its instruments, we can start to plan the ambitious future programmes that will address today’s scientific questions and shape the direction of our field. With this in mind, one of the goals of the conference is to share lessons learned on how best to optimise observations and data analysis, in good time for the Cycle 2 proposal deadline (27 January 2023). The conference will …

6 October 2022: -By Chris Evans- Alongside the excitement of the first Webb data, the team at ESAC’s Science Data Centre released the European JWST (eJWST) archive. This provides a fast and user-friendly European interface to Webb data, including quick-look search tools by target or proposal ID, and a powerful visual means to search the archive using ESASky search (see image above). After the unveiling of the first images and spectra on 12 July, the associated raw data and pipeline-reduced products were ingested into the eJWST archive as soon as they were released. Since then, all public data and pipeline products are now regularly updated on eJWST, including those from the Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science (ERS) programmes and from the other image releases (e.g. the Cartwheel Galaxy and 30 Doradus). Users can also download exclusive access data using their tokens for the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) within the eJWST environment. …

6 October 2022: -By Bethany Downer and Deborah Baines- We are so pleased to announce that the ESA/Webb and ESASky teams have collaborated again to incorporate the spectacular Webb images featured on the ESA/Webb website into the ESASky application (as is already done for ESA/Hubble images). ESASky is a web-based app that helps users to interact with outreach astronomical images and datasets taken in different bands of light, obtained by ESA missions. As this collaboration sought to harness this unique educational tool to engage with a broader audience, users who are interested in the more detailed science behind Webb’s wide variety of breathtaking images can now also enjoy data-driven tools in ESASky! This includes finding Webb's science-ready archival datasets used in the public outreach images, or overlaying ESA's Gaia catalogue on top of a cluster image taken by Webb to better understand the movements and characteristics of stars in a given cluster. The …

6 October 2022: -By Bethany Downer - In July the dawn of a new era in astronomy began as the world got its first look at the full capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s first full-colour images and spectroscopic data, which uncovered a spectacular collection of cosmic features that have remained elusive until now, were released. This began with a preview of Webb’s First Deep Field of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as unveiled by US President Joe Biden during a White House event on Monday 11 July. On Tuesday 12 July the complete collection of Webb’s first observations were revealed during a live NASA broadcast. These first observations tell the story of the hidden Universe through every phase of cosmic history and were shared and celebrated worldwide. The now famous images and spectra revealed the capabilities of all four of Webb’s state-of-the-art scientific instruments and confirmed that the observations …