Film & Animation

Behind the Webb: Webb’s Shaping Up (Episode 20)

The sunshield of the James Webb Space Telescope is made up of five layers of a specially designed material that includes Kapton, aluminum, and silicon. But it’s not only what it’s made of that allows the sunshield to keep the observatory the right temperature to make its observations. Behind the Webb host Mary Estacion takes us to Huntsville, Alabama, to see how engineers are testing each layer of the sunshield.... Read More

Horse of a Different Color: Hubble’s Universe Unfiltered

The Horsehead Nebula is a striking, dark gas cloud just below Orion’s belt. It is a favorite of both professional and amateur astronomers. However, as a dark nebula, most of its true structure is hidden from visible light observations. To celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, we revealed the considerable detail of that unseen nebular structure via an infrared portrait. The result is even more striking, and something one just doesn’t see very often: a veritable astronomical horse of a different color.... Read More