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Khabre desk
Recent reporting, analysis and explainers from the space telescopes desk.
science
NASA confirmed that the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on Nov. 4, 2026, over North Sumatra, Indonesia. The space telescope spent nearly 22 years studying gamma-ray bursts and other cosmic events.
science
NASA ended science operations of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after atmospheric drag at its low orbit made steady astronomical observations impossible. The spacecraft leaves a public archive of nearly 22 years of multiwavelength data.
science
NASA says the Roman Space Telescope passed fine-guidance stability tests and captured its first coronagraph images during commissioning in September 2026. The initial coronagraph observations tested focus and pointing rather than reporting a planet detection.
science
NASA has selected PRIMA to enter Phase B, advancing plans for a far-infrared space telescope designed to survey the universe. The mission is targeted to launch in 2033, pending further development and review.
science
Astronomers have confirmed Elias 2-24 b, a Jupiter-mass exoplanet less than a million years old and still forming inside its star’s gas-and-dust disk. Its confirmation came from combining archival observations from the Keck Observatory with earlier observations from ALMA and the Very Large Telescope.
science
NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Aug. 30, 2026, for the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket. The observatory will study dark energy, dark matter and planetary systems.