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A cloudy disk-like structure is forming in the left, bottom corner with a star at its center. There are jets of light coming from below and above the star with a string-like, spiraling structure surrounding the jets. The spiral structure is stretched out as it begins just above and below the star, then transitions to consistent ring-like turns as it moves farther from the star. There is another star/disk/jet indicated in the distance at the top right corner. These two structures are in a dense, cloudy atmosphere with glimpses of a star field in breaks of the clouds.
Twisted Physics: Astronomers Solve 30-Year-Old Stellar Mystery
August 11, 2026 at 5:00 am | News Release

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) is a partner, have captured the first direct, high-resolution images of a magnetic field wrapped tightly around the outflow of gas streaming away from a forming star — evidence that solves a decades-old puzzle about how young stars sculpt the powerful jets that form them.
This artist's representation highlights the streamer feeding material onto the protoplanetary disk, GW Ori, creating misaligned dust rings.
A Trillion Mile Cosmic Stream of Gas Feeds GW Orionis
August 6, 2026 at 11:20 am | News Release

A team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a partner, has captured a massive stream of gas—one trillion miles, or .2 light years long—feeding the young triple-star system GW Orionis. These new observations provide the clearest evidence yet for how such “streamers” can tilt and twist the disks where planets are born.

Bright point of light in the upper left corner with jets. The jet splits into red and blue wavelengths moving at the same angle towards the bottom right corner. As they hit a mostly transparent, pinkish bubble of gas they twist in different amounts until they leave the bubble and continue off screen, no longer twisting but now at different angles.
Astronomers Detect Magnetic Fingerprint of a Cosmic Explosion for the First Time
July 14, 2026 at 9:00 am | News Release

Astronomers have made a series of landmark observations of one of the Universe’s most violent events. Using the U.S….
The Milky Way Galaxy pours into an ALMA antenna. The astro-modified camera used to take this photo lets in the hydrogen alpha light that is normally filtered out. This modification makes the camera more sensitive to the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum, thus giving a pink tint to the sky. The green lights are used to show antenna activity.
Young Stars Shape the Fate of Galaxies
June 17, 2026 at 1:15 pm | News Release

Astronomers have new insight into how young stars shape the evolution of galaxies, highlighting the powerful role of stellar…
This image shows the complex distribution of molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. It was obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. This map is as long as three full Moons side-by-side in the sky, and it is in fact the largest ALMA image ever obtained. This map is part of ACES — the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey — a project designed to understand how gas condenses into stars in the extreme and chaotic environment at the heart of our galaxy. The survey has charted the distribution of dozens of different molecules, five of which are shown here in different colours: sulphur monoxide (cyan), silicon monoxide (green), isocyanic acid (red), cyanoacetylene (blue), and carbon monosulphide (magenta). The stars in the foreground of this image were observed at infrared wavelengths (Y, Z and J filters) with ESO’s VISTA telescope as part of a different project. The actual density of stars in the CMZ is much higher than what is shown here, where we have opted to highlight the details in the molecular cloud. Note that the edges of the ALMA map appear somewhat sharp because the ALMA observations do not cover the entire rectangular area here.
A Quiet Corner of the Milky Way Could Hold the Secret to Star Formation
June 16, 2026 at 1:15 pm | News Release

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have identified a surprisingly calm region of gas within the turbulent…
This image shows the complex distribution of molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. It was obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. This map is as long as three full Moons side-by-side in the sky, and it is in fact the largest ALMA image ever obtained. This map is part of ACES — the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey — a project designed to understand how gas condenses into stars in the extreme and chaotic environment at the heart of our galaxy. The survey has charted the distribution of dozens of different molecules, five of which are shown here in different colours: sulphur monoxide (cyan), silicon monoxide (green), isocyanic acid (red), cyanoacetylene (blue), and carbon monosulphide (magenta). The stars in the foreground of this image were observed at infrared wavelengths (Y, Z and J filters) with ESO’s VISTA telescope as part of a different project. The actual density of stars in the CMZ is much higher than what is shown here, where we have opted to highlight the details in the molecular cloud. Note that the edges of the ALMA map appear somewhat sharp because the ALMA observations do not cover the entire rectangular area here.
NSF NRAO at 248th American Astronomical Society Meeting, Science Featured in Six Press Conferences
June 12, 2026 at 10:12 am | News Release

Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) instruments are unveiling new scientific research…
This illustration traces the universe’s evolution from the Big Bang to the present day, highlighting REBELS-25, a very distant galaxy seen during the Epoch of Reionization 13 billion years ago. New deep observations with the NSF VLA and ALMA reveal that REBELS-25 already had an enormous reservoir of cool molecular gas—the direct fuel for star formation—when the universe was just 700 million years old.
Cosmic Dawn Fuel Discovery Unlocks Early Galaxy Growth Secrets
June 11, 2026 at 9:00 am | News Release

Astronomers have discovered a huge reservoir of cold molecular gas, the direct fuel for star formation, in REBELS-25, a…
This composite image shows evidence for a wind blowing away from Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy. The white dot in the center of the image shows Sgr A*. In orange is data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescopes in Chile, mapping the location of cold gas composed of carbon monoxide in the image. In blue is X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. A large cone-shaped cavity, visible as an absence of cold gas in the ALMA data, is filled by hot X-ray-emitting gas in the Chandra data. Researchers think a hot, energetic wind blowing from Sgr A* created this structure by sweeping the cold gas away or heating it up.
Milky Way’s Black Hole Finally Caught “Breathing”
June 4, 2026 at 12:00 pm | News Release

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory…
This artist’s impression compares the semi-heavy water content of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (left) and Earth (right). Insets illustrate the relative abundance of deuterated water (HDO) molecules, showing that 3I/ATLAS contains over 30 times more HDO than is found in Earth’s oceans. This elevated ratio suggests the comet formed in an extremely cold environment, very different from the conditions that shaped our Solar System.
3I/ATLAS Contains 30X More Semi-Heavy Water Than Comets In Our Solar System
April 23, 2026 at 5:00 am | News Release

New observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS include the first measurement of the abundance of deuterated water relative to…
An artist's rendition of pair of twin stars being born in the HOPS-312 system in Orion.
Most Close Pairs of Stars Are Born as Cosmic Twins
April 13, 2026 at 8:00 am | News Release

A new study of infant stars in the Perseus and Orion star-forming regions suggests that most close pairs of…
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