Gaia clocks new speeds for Milky Way-Andromeda collision 07 February 2019 ESA's Gaia satellite has looked beyond our Galaxy and explored two nearby galaxies to reveal the stellar motions within them and how they will one day interact and collide with the Milky Way – with surprising results. Read more

Hubble fortuitously discovers a new galaxy in the cosmic neighbourhood [heic1903] 31 January 2019 Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study some of the oldest and faintest stars in the globular cluster NGC 6752 have made an unexpected finding. They discovered a dwarf galaxy in our cosmic backyard, only 30 million light-years away. Read more

Active galaxies point to new physics of cosmic expansion 28 January 2019 Investigating the history of our cosmos with a large sample of distant 'active' galaxies observed by ESA's XMM-Newton, a team of astronomers found there might be more to the early expansion of the Universe than predicted by the standard model of cosmology. Read more

Team of telescopes finds X-ray engine inside mysterious supernova 10 January 2019 ESA's high-energy space telescopes INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton have helped to find a source of powerful X-rays at the centre of an unprecedentedly bright and rapidly evolving stellar explosion that suddenly appeared in the sky earlier this year. Read more

XMM-Newton captures final cries of star shredded by black hole 09 January 2019 Astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory have studied a black hole devouring a star and discovered an exceptionally bright and stable signal that allowed them to determine the black hole's spin rate. Read more

Hubble sees the brightest quasar in the early Universe [heic1902] 09 January 2019 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the brightest quasar ever seen in the early Universe. After 20 years of searching, astronomers have identified the ancient quasar with the help of strong gravitational lensing. Read more

#2: Solar Orbiter receives its sunblock 14 December 2018 It's testing time for ESA's Solar Orbiter: after leaving the premises of prime contractor Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, UK in September, the spacecraft has started its test campaign at the IABG facility in Ottobrunn, Germany. Read more

#14: CHEOPS - withstanding the sound of launch and avoiding radio interference 17 October 2018 For the CHEOPS mission, September was a busy month of acoustic noise testing and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) testing at ESA's technical centre in the Netherlands. Read more

#14: Tests, moving to a new home, and more tests 04 June 2018 In the last year, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and in particular the telescope and the instruments have passed some key milestones on their road towards launch, now planned for 2020. Read more