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This image shows the field around the progenitor to supernova SN 2026gzf, detected by the Einstein Probe on 21 March 2026. The supernova progenitor appears as a bright blue dot within the galaxy located in the middle of the upper third at the center of this image. View a series of close-up images that show the evolving supernova here. This image was created by stacking multiple images taken between May 2025 and January 2026 with the LSST Camera, mounted on NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science (DOE/SC). SN 2026gzf occurred within Rubin’s COSMOS Deep Drilling Field. Observations of this field, including this image, were recently made public as part of Rubin’s Early Data Preview 2 (EDP2) — the first data preview based on observations from the LSST Camera. EDP2 combines Rubin’s science validation observations collected between April 2025 and January 2026.

NSF NRAO radio observations help rule out a relativistic jet in rare stellar explosion

August 5, 2026 at 1:14 pm | News Release

Astronomers studying a rare stellar explosion first spotted as a brief burst of X-rays used radio observations to help show that the dying star did not produce the powerful jet often associated with gamma-ray bursts.

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….

NSF VLA Sky Survey Sets New Standard for High-Resolution, Wide-Area Radio Astronomy

July 13, 2026 at 2:48 pm | News Release

The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) has completed observations for the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS), the most detailed radio survey of the sky ever conducted, providing an unprecedented view of the dynamic radio universe.

Radio emission from neutral hydrogen atoms in the direction of the Orion Nebula, the most nearby regions of high-mass star formation. The red colors show the 21-cm emission from hydrogen, resolved for the first time at this level of detail by observations from the Neutral Atomic Hydrogen in the Solar Neighborhood (NeAtHood) project, led by Juan Diego Soler from the University of Vienna. The cyan colors show the emission from warm interstellar dust in near-infrared light.

NSF VLA Maps a Hidden Hydrogen Shell Around the Orion Nebula

July 9, 2026 at 12:00 pm | News Release

A team of astronomers led by Juan D. Soler of the University of Vienna used the NSF VLA, operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatories (NSF NRAO), to obtain high-resolution observations of the emission from neutral hydrogen atoms (HI) at 21 centimeters wavelength

Artist's conception illustrating the aftermath of an intermediate-mass black hole tearing apart a passing star, resulting in an accretion disk and narrow relativistic jet (top left). The dotted line indicates our line of sight from Earth. The jet's off-axis afterglow only became visible once the expanding radio emission (bottom right) had grown wide enough to sweep into our line of sight, causing that emission to brighten dramatically years after the initial event.

Hidden Jet from a “Missing-Link” Black Hole Lights Up the Radio Sky

July 7, 2026 at 12:00 pm | News Release

Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) have detected an extraordinary burst of radio light from a rare cosmic event in which an intermediate-mass black hole tears apart a star, revealing what appears to be the off-axis afterglow of a powerful jet.

NSF VLA and ALMA Reveal Hidden “Ring Factories” of Giant Star Clusters in Nearby Galaxies

June 17, 2026 at 1:15 pm | News Release

Astronomers have used U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) radio telescopes in Chile and New Mexico to peer through cosmic smoke and haze, building one of the clearest pictures yet of how giant clusters of young stars are born in the hearts of nearby galaxies.

Saving the Quiet Sky: Scientists and Telecom Team Up to Protect NSF VLA

June 16, 2026 at 2:18 pm | News Release

A recent upgrade to a commercial cell phone tower near the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF…

VLA Astrophotography from November 2024
Photos taken by Bettymaya Foott
Credit: NSF/AUI/NSF NRAO/B.Foott

Astronomers Catch Black Holes “Burping” in Radio with the NSF VLA

June 15, 2026 at 5:15 pm | News Release

Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) have found that when a supermassive black hole tears apart an unlucky star, the fireworks are not over when the first flash fades.

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…

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