IPAC About Science Projects & Data Future Outreach News Events Community Our Mission History Organization Committees Staff Directory Meet the Staff Job Opportunities Contact Us General Information Media Contacts Social Media Visitor Information Overview Science Staff Meet the Scientists Talks Fellowships Publications Science Collaborations Beacon-JWST GOALS Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey PASSAGE Parallel Application of Slitless Spectroscopy to Analyze Galaxy Evolution RAPID PIT Roman Alerts Promptly from Image Differencing Roman GRS PIT Roman Galaxy Redshift Survey Project Infrastructure Team Roman HLIS Cosmology PIT Roman Project Infrastructure Team: Cosmology with the Roman High Latitude Imaging Survey More Students Graduate Students Undergraduate Students High School Students Citizen Science Working at IPAC Archives & Data Science IRSA Infrared Science Archive KOA Keck Observatory Archive NASA Exoplanet Archive NED NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database ExoFOP Exoplanet Follow-up Observing Program Fornax The Fornax Initiative NEID NN-explore Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy DOIs Missions & Centers Euclid Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC NExScI NASA Exoplanet Science Institute Rubin Vera C. Rubin Observatory SPHEREx Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer ZTF Zwicky Transient Facility In Development ARIEL/CASE Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey NEO Surveyor Near-Earth Object Surveyor Roman Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope UVEX Ultraviolet Explorer Legacy 2MASS Two Micron All Sky Survey Herschel NASA Herschel Science Center IRAS Infrared Astronomical Satellite ISO Infrared Space Observatory LTB Lunar Trailblazer NEOWISE Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Planck U.S. Planck Data Center SOFIA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy Spitzer Spitzer Science Center TMT Thirty Meter Telescope WISE Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer In Development ARIEL/CASE Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey NEO Surveyor Near-Earth Object Surveyor Roman Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope UVEX Ultraviolet Explorer Mission Studies & Proposals ISCEA Infrared SmallSat for Cluster Evolution Astrophysics JSP Joint Survey Processing PRIMA Probe Far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics More EPO Projects Cool Cosmos Explore Exoplanets: The Discoverers NITARP NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program NASA Universe of Learning AstroPix Astrovisualization Community of Practice Universe Unplugged Overview Key Expertise Education Animation/Video Production Science Visualization & Illustration Virtual Reality Outreach & Communications Website Development All News Featured News IPAC News Project News Uplink Newsletters Meet the Staff Media Contacts All Events Science Talk Public Event Symposium Conference Workshop Panel Discussion Overview Fellowships Conferences Decadal Survey IPAC at AAS / DPS meetings About Our Mission History Organization Committees Staff Directory Meet the Staff Job Opportunities Contact Us Science Overview Science Staff Meet the Scientists Talks Fellowships Publications Science Collaborations Students Projects & Data Archive & Data Science Missions & Centers In Development Legacy Future In Development Mission Studies & Proposals Outreach Overview Education Animation/Video Production Science Visualization & Illustration Virtual Reality Outreach & Communications Website Development Education & Outreach News All News Featured News IPAC News Project News Uplink Newsletters Meet the Staff Media Contacts Events All Events Science Talk Public Event Symposium Conference Workshop Panel Discussion Community Overview Fellowships Conferences Decadal Survey IPAC at AAS / DPS meetings Science & Data Center for Astrophysics & Planetary Sciences NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory Opens Deep Window on Famous Cosmic Field Project News • July 31st, 2026 A new NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory image featuring hundreds of thousands of distant galaxies in and around the COSMOS field marks the Observatory’s first LSST Camera image and catalog release for science. Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana Opens the 2026 Sagan Summer Workshop Project News • July 24th, 2026 Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana kicked off the 2026 Sagan Summer Workshop by sharing a look back on his own time as a graduate student in 1999 attending an earlier version of the workshop called the Michelson Summer School. Why do galaxies have spirals? News Release • July 17th, 2026 • For generations, astronomers have been puzzled by a deceptively simple question: Why do some spiral galaxies have two arms while others have many? Researchers at East Tennessee State University, in collaboration with Iowa State University, believe they have uncovered an important piece of the answer. The research, published in the Astrophysical Journal this month and supported by the NASA Tennessee Space Grant Consortium, suggests the answer lies in the central bulge, the dense collection of stars at the core of a galaxy. People of IPAC: New Leaders, New Roles, New Staff IPAC News • July 8th, 2026 There were many changes in the IPAC team in the first half of 2026. We filled 17 positions with people who either joined IPAC afresh or with existing staff who transitioned to new roles. ESA’s Euclid Space Telescope Finds Universe’s Most Ancient Quasars News Release • July 6th, 2026 • Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 of the oldest quasars ever documented.Two are the oldest ever observed, dating back to the universe’s infancy. IPAC Celebrates Its 40th at AAS with Visual/IR Photos! IPAC News • June 25th, 2026 At the AAS 248 conference in Pasadena, IPAC hosted a reception for conference attendees. Did you “step up, get scanned and ... see yourself in a new light?” ESA’s Euclid captures the Milky Way’s crowded heart News Release • June 24th, 2026 • The largest and most detailed photo ever made of our Milky Way galaxy’s centre in visible light is revealed today by the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission. Packed with more than 60 million stars, this image opens the door for scientists to confirm the existence of any exoplanet found in this region and measure its mass using tiny changes in starlight over time. Euclid View of Milky Way Heart Previews Core Survey by NASA’s Roman News • June 24th, 2026 • A new look at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy by Euclid, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with NASA contributions, overlaps with a region scientists will observe with NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launching later this summer. This sneak peek gives astronomers a major jumpstart on a core Roman survey, helping scientists learn more than they could from either telescope alone. New JWST images of abnormally well-developed galaxy cluster open up the “cosmic noon” frontier IPAC News • June 17th, 2026 New observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope add to the intrigue surrounding a young, but surprisingly mature galaxy cluster from the early universe that challenges prevailing theories of cosmic evolution. Our Mission IPAC at Caltech partners with NASA, NSF, JPL and the world-wide research community to advance exploration of our Universe. Beginning with the IRAS mission in 1983 and spanning through 2MASS, Spitzer, Herschel, Planck, WISE/NEOWISE and Euclid in recent years, we have enabled transformative research of the entire sky. We provide science operations, user support, archives and data services, and scientific vision to maximize discovery with observatories both in space and on the ground. In 2025 SPHEREx launched. Next up, Roman, NEO Surveyor, and UVEX are all preparing to launch in the years ahead. We share these advances and discoveries with everyone through education outreach programs and award-winning communications. Our community of active researchers is dedicated and essential to fulfilling this mission. Read More Archives & Data Science Missions & Centers In Development Mission Studies & Proposals Science at IPAC Our community of active researchers is key to the strategic development and execution of all programs supported by IPAC. IPAC scientific staff are engaged in research spanning a broad range of fields in astrophysics and planetary sciences. Areas of special focus include exoplanets; dark energy and cosmology; star formation and galaxy evolution; asteroids and the solar system; and the area in which IPAC has provided leadership for over three decades -- exploration of the infrared and sub-mm universe. Read More Featured Research Science Collaborations Science at IPAC Our community of active researchers is key to the strategic development and execution of all programs supported by IPAC. IPAC scientific staff are engaged in research spanning a broad range of fields in astrophysics and planetary sciences. Areas of special focus include exoplanets; dark energy and cosmology; star formation and galaxy evolution; asteroids and the solar system; and the area in which IPAC has provided leadership for over three decades -- exploration of the infrared and sub-mm universe. Read More Featured Staff Vihang Mehta Assistant Scientist Featured Staff • February 4th, 2026 Vihang Mehta works at IPAC’s Roman Science Support Center where he is developing the pipeline to reduce Wide Field Instrument (WFI) spectral data that will come from NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space... Alexandra Greenbaum Assistant Scientist Featured Staff • November 8th, 2025 In this profile, we feature Alexandra (“Alex”) Greenbaum, who leads NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Data Management System at IPAC’s Roman Science Support Center. More Featured Staff Events Aug 26 GISS 2026 Symposium • 8:00 AM, August 26th - 27th, 2026 • KS-410 The twenty-sixth annual Greater IPAC Science Symposium (GISS) will be held on August 26-27th 2026, Wednesday and Thursday. This year we will have a hybrid symposium (Keith Spalding 410 and Online via Zoom) GISS is a forum for presenting, discussing and... Sep 1 Community Science (Ad ASTRA) Workshop Workshop • 8:00 AM, September 1st - 3rd, 2026 • Baxter Lecture Hall on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, CA The Community Science (Ad ASTRA) Workshop is organized by the NASA Astrophysics Division and the three Astrophysics Program Offices (Physics of the Cosmos, Cosmic Origins, and Exoplanet Exploration), in conjunction with the ASTRA initiative, to engage the... Sep 15 OpenUniverse2024 Workshop Workshop • 10:00 AM, September 15th, 2026 We invite you to join us for this free, hands-on virtual workshop to explore OpenUniverse2024 data. Please remember to sign up before August 31, 2026 using the form provided — capacity is limited to 30 participants! 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