➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone

Good news! It was announced today, that photos can now be taken in the "RVT areas" at the Australasia Branch. So we might start seeing some shots from the backlot and actual props come through. (Previously, we were instructed to put the cameras away at these locations.) 📸 Now I'll have to go again. Then I can get some photos of where I have been. So far, I was only allowed to collect memories! Lol

Hubble Survey Sets Up Roman’s Future Look Near Milky Way’s Center Released: 11 May 2026 10am ID: 2026-201 This large-scale program provides a springboard to help interpret future Roman data. One of the core community surveys of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, is expected to locate over a thousand exoplanets that orbit far away from their stars, beyond the orbital distance of Earth from the Sun. Although Roman hasn’t launched yet, astronomers already are gathering useful supporting data by utilizing NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which could assist astronomers in analyzing Roman data... This survey consists of six 72-day observing seasons during which Roman will take a snapshot every 12 minutes of a large portion of the bulge (approximately 1.7 square degrees of the region, or the area of 8.5 full moons). While it will detect a variety of targets, the survey is optimized to look for a specific type of event known as microlensing. Article Link: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news-releases/2026/news-2026-201.html?utm_source=roman&utm_campaign=inbox_astronomy&utm_id=2026-201#section-id-3 Video Description [4m 7sec]: This video shows a zoom into the Milky Way’s galactic bulge near the galactic center. As it zooms in, the view changes from the near-infrared 2MASS survey to the VISTA VVV survey (both ground-based). At the conclusion of the zoom, part of the region of the galactic bulge that will be surveyed by Roman’s Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey is highlighted with five stacked fields of view. (Roman will also observe a sixth field at the galactic center that is not shown here.) ED: After watching the video, I'm reminded how little we know. More data is coming in that we cannot keep up with it. Pic Description Top: This near-infrared image from the ground-based VISTA VVV Survey shows the galactic bulge near Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A star”), the black hole at the Milky Way’s center. The region, outlined in white, shows five stacked fields of view from NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope that will be observed as part of its Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, one of its three core community surveys. (Roman will also observe a sixth field at the galactic center that is not shown here.) Prior to Roman’s launch, a team of researchers sought to use Hubble to capture the same regions in preparation for potential microlensing events. Pic Description Mid: A follow-up observation by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows a field containing a microlensing event that was captured by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) in 2013. This provides an example of how a Hubble image could be used to analyze future microlensing events spotted by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. In gravitational microlensing, the gravity of a foreground object acts as a lens, magnifying and distorting the light of a background star when the two objects align in the sky. Pic Description Bot: This graphic illustrates a microlensing event, which occurs when the light from a distant object warps as a mass, such as a star (depicted here) or a stellar-mass black hole, precisely aligns in front of that object. In this image, a red, foreground star intervenes between the telescope, acting as the “lens,” bending, and magnifying the light of the yellow background star. Unlike some gravitational lensing events, which occur at the scale of galaxies or galaxy clusters, microlensing events occur on a much smaller scale, such as that of individual stars. The lensing effect is, therefore, much smaller. This image also provides a representation of what the background star would look like to a telescope in a microlensing event. Because of the curvature of space around the background star (represented by the white arrows that curve around it in the image), the background star appears to increase in brightness as the event begins before decreasing in apparent brightness as it falls out of alignment. The graph at bottom plots the apparent brightness of the background star over time. Credits: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Sean Terry (UMD), Jay Anderson (STScI), Joyce Kang (STScI)

Photographer Spends Night on Freezing Mountain to Capture Rare Triple Galaxy Arch May 08, 2026 Matt Growcoot [ED: Strictly not JWST, but awesome! ] Intrepid photographer Angel Fux had to meticulously plan her trip to the top of Dent d’Hérens on the border of Italy and Switzerland — a summit just under 14,000 feet high near the Matterhorn — where she would spend the night in temperatures approaching minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit). “I first discovered the phenomenon two or three years ago, and from the moment I understood what it was, I knew I wanted to photograph it,” Fux tells PetaPixel. “I attempted it for the first time last year from around 3,000 meters [9,800 feet], and the image received a lot of attention. I have since noticed more and more photographers attempting it, which I find genuinely exciting... ED: More of Fux’s work can be found on her website and Instagram. Links at the end of the article: Article Link; https://petapixel.com/2026/05/08/photographer-spends-night-on-freezing-mountain-to-capture-rare-triple-galaxy-arch/ Pic Description: The two arms of the Milky Way Galaxy, and Gegenschein caused by scattered sunlight. | Photo by Angel Fux

NASA's Roman Poised to Transform Hunt for Elusive Neutron Stars 06 May 2026 10am Release ID: 2026-202 Summary Tiny shifts in starlight could reveal otherwise hidden objects Although neutron stars were theorized nearly a century ago and later identified through the discovery of pulsars, astronomers have only detected a small, biased sample of what is believed to be a vast population across the Milky Way galaxy. Now, researchers are planning to get creative with NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to uncover and weigh these elusive objects. By measuring tiny shifts in starlight caused by their gravity, Roman may reveal a hidden population of isolated neutron stars and open a new window on extreme physics. Article Link: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news-releases/2026/news-2026-202.html Image Description: Astrometric microlensing occurs when a foreground object, like a neutron star, passes in front of a more distant background star. The neutron star’s gravity bends the distant star’s light, splitting it into multiple paths that reach the telescope. Although these distorted images can’t be resolved, their combined light appears brighter and slightly shifted from the distant star’s true position. As the alignment between the two objects changes over time, this apparent shift traces a small elliptical pattern on the sky. The size of that ellipse depends on how strongly the light is bent, meaning more massive objects produce larger shifts, allowing astronomers to directly measure the mass of the otherwise invisible neutron star. Credits: NASA, STScI, Joyce Kang (STScI)

Webb looks into the cradles of star clusters, finds massive clusters emerge faster 6 May 2026 Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope together with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have looked deeply at thousands of young star clusters in four nearby galaxies, studying clusters at different stages of evolution. Their findings show that more massive star clusters emerge more quickly from the clouds they are born in, clearing away gas and filling the galaxy with ultraviolet light. The result gives us a more detailed understanding of star formation in galaxies, as well as how and where planets can form. Article link: https://esawebb.org/news/weic2608/ Video [1:25] Video Description: Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope together with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have looked deeply at thousands of young star clusters in four nearby galaxies, studying clusters at different stages of evolution. Watch this Space Sparks episode to learn more. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Pedrini, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb) Pic Description[Top]: This image shows a section of one of the spiral arms of Messier 51 (M51), one of the four galaxies studied in this work, as seen by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). The thick clumps of star-forming gas are shown here in red and orange, representing infrared light emitted by ionised gas, dust grains, and complex molecules such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Within these gas complexes, each tens or hundreds of light years across, Webb reveals the dense, extremely bright clusters of massive stars that have just recently formed. The countless stars strewn across the arm of the galaxy, many of which would be invisible to our eyes behind layers of dust, are also laid bare in infrared light. Pic Description[Quad]: This image shows the four galaxies studied in this research, each of which has previously been the subject of an ESA/Webb Picture of the Month: Messier 51 (top left), Messier 83 (top right), NGC 4449 (bottom left), and NGC 628 (bottom right). Blue colours, especially in the centre of the galaxies, are near-infrared light that show the location of bright stars. Orange and yellow show ionised gas and red colours come from complex molecules and dust grains; these are longer mid-infrared wavelengths. They trace out the spiral arms of each galaxy as a network of filaments with cavities in between. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Pedrini, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team.

That's a nice clarification that we might see come through in due course. It reminds me of when we were 'reclassified' as domestics. It makes me feel acknowledged as being part of the family. I find it encouraging and heart warming. ❤️

Some great ideas incorporated in there. I'll test it when I get a chance. Ty T.

Sorry. I couldn't resist...

I think the convention spoiler thread. Just in case someone me on here don't wish to see a pre-release. Imo

Done. And loved them all. How blessed are we!

I only just woke up. Should I watch the Update first? Oh my. Please tell me we can watch them. My plans for today have just gone out the window.

What's going on? I see Ep4, 5 and 6 are now online...? How did I miss the 'Have you been to a Convention?' firewall?

On our website: https://www.jw.org/en/news/#newsAlerts

NASA's Hubble Dazzles With Young Stars in Trifid Nebula Release date: 20 April 2026 10am Actively forming stars are threaded throughout thick dust in this star-forming region. Hubble is the most enduring space telescope the world has ever known. Many of its findings could not have been predicted when the concept for this telescope was proposed in 1946. Hubble provided the first confirmation that supermassive black holes exist, and that black holes are at the cores of almost all galaxies. This telescope was the first to confirm an atmosphere around a planet outside our solar system — and showed us the first images of asteroids with tails. It has observed a huge number of cosmic objects, from nearby stars and star-forming regions to more distant merging galaxies and galaxy clusters. Its extensive, precise observations are regularly referenced when astronomers calculate (and recalculate) the expansion rate of the universe itself. This great observatory is always “on” — Hubble takes new images and data daily. Its deeply detailed images capture ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. In honor of Hubble’s 36th anniversary, the telescope looked at a scene it first captured in 1997: A small portion of a star-forming region about 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius, known as the Trifid Nebula. The before-and-after shows changes over incredibly short timescales — and instills a sense of awe and wonder about our ever-changing universe. Article Link: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news-releases/2026/news-2026-013/ Video Description: [5min] NASA is celebrating the 36th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope with a stunning new look at the Trifid Nebula, a star-forming region about 5,000 light-years away. Powerful ultraviolet light from massive stars carved out this glowing bubble, triggering new waves of star birth. Sit back and relax as Hubble Senior Project Scientist, Dr. Jennifer Wiseman takes us on a tour of this beautiful image. Credit: NASA; Lead Producer: Paul Morris Video link: Pic Description: NASA celebrates Hubble’s 36th anniversary with a new image of the Trifid Nebula, a star-forming region it first captured in 1997. The telescope leveraged almost its full operational lifetime to show us changes in the nebula on human time scales with an improved camera. Several massive stars, which are outside this field of view, have shaped this region for at least 300,000 years. (See them in a wider view.) Their powerful winds continue to blow an enormous bubble, a small portion of which is shown here, that pushes and compresses the cloud’s gas and dust, triggering new waves of star formation. NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Largest-ever 3D map of the universe shows 47 million galaxies... Space photo of the week By Jamie Carter published 14 hours ago What it is: The largest 3D map of the universe ever created Where it is: The universe, as seen from Earth When it was shared: April 17, 2026 The largest 3D map of the universe, created with data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, shows 47 million galaxies in stunning detail. This snapshot is just a small part of one of the most comprehensive and spectacular views yet of the universe — a web-like structure formed by millions of galaxies, stretching back to near the dawn of time. Each tiny point in the image represents a galaxy mapped by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). The galaxies aren't randomly distributed; instead, they form in filaments and clusters known as the cosmic web. Between these luminous strands of galaxies are vast empty regions known as voids, where few stars or galaxies exist. The image is from the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever created. DESI, which is mounted on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, uses 5,000 robotic fiber-optic sensors to capture light from distant celestial objects. Article Link: https://www.livescience.com/space/cosmology/largest-ever-3d-map-of-the-universe-shows-47-million-galaxies-from-the-milky-way-to-cosmic-noon-space-photo-of-the-week Pic Description: A small portion of DESI's year-five map of the large-scale structure of the universe. (Image credit: DESI Collaboration and DESI Member Institutions/DOE/KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. ProctorImage Processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)) [ED To quote: 'Each tiny point in the image represents a galaxy...']