Cernan Earth & Space Center

05/29/2026

Which came first, galaxies or black holes?

New Webb observations show that some supermassive black holes were enormous from their beginnings, shifting traditional ideas around how black holes form and grow.

Webb looked at an object called QSO1, which existed just 700 million years after the big bang. Despite being more than 13 billion light-years away and only 1300 light-years across, it is relatively easy to study, because its light is being magnified by the gravity of a galaxy cluster that lies between it and us. This object is visible in three different spots (a, b, and c) due to this effect.

QSO1 was observed using a special mode of our Near Infrared Spectrograph that allows us to map data spatially. The result is a map of the motions of the gas that surrounds the black hole, and thus the black hole’s mass - something that was not possible to do before Webb.

The gas around QSO1’s black hole is almost entirely hydrogen and helium, with almost no heavier elements present. Heavier elements are the by-products of star formation, meaning this object isn’t a galaxy rich with stars.

The black hole is immense, ~50 million times the mass of the Sun, and it makes up for two-thirds of the object’s mass. In other nearby galaxies, the supermassive black hole is only a tiny fraction of the host galaxy’s total mass. An object already this massive in the early universe (and without a substantial galaxy surrounding it) wouldn’t have had the time to form its black hole gradually from smaller stellar-mass black holes merging and feeding on nearby material.

It’s possible this is evidence for the existence of types of supermassive black holes that have only been theorized: either primordial black holes that formed in the first second after the birth of the universe; or ones formed directly from the collapse of a large gas cloud. It’s not yet clear from which process QSO1’s black hole resulted, but it was almost certainly born big, and might also be in the early stages of building a galaxy around itself.

Read more at the link in comments.

Image credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Lukas Furtak (Ben-Gurion University); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

05/19/2026

Reminder that we have two more weeks of our May programming!

Here's what happening in the planetarium in May!
And keep an eye here for an announcement about a SPECIAL EVENT later this month 👨‍🚀✨

Wednesdays:
9:45am - Rusty Rocket's Last Blast
2:30pm - Habitat Earth
Saturdays:
7:00pm - Seeing: A Photon's Journey Through Time, Space, and Mind
8:30pm - Laser Van Halen

05/18/2026

They may be leaving us soon, but it's still fun to look back on the history of the artifacts in our collection. Make sure to stop by and see Gene Cernan's Apollo 10 suit by June 6th!

May 18, 1969: Tom Stafford, John Young, and Gene Cernan begin the second crewed mission to the Moon.

Apollo 10 was the final critical test flight before Apollo 11's lunar landing, just 2 months later.

05/18/2026

If you missed the Retirement Party, don't worry! The last day to see the suit will be June 6th, feel free to stop in during business hours any day up until then.

After 40 years standing on duty at Triton College’s Cernan Earth and Space Center, Gene Cernan’s Apollo 10 spacesuit and twelve other artifacts will soon retire to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for restoration and relaxation.

The Cernan Earth and Space Center invites the public to offer a proper sendoff and final salute to Cernan’s flown spacesuit at a “Retirement Party” on May 17 from 2 to 4 p.m.

There will be a trivia challenge and a short program in the planetarium, as well as special explanations about the artifacts on display in the exhibit hall. Visitors are encouraged to wear space-themed attire, ranging from a full costume to a NASA T-shirt. Guests can also capture the moment in front of an orbiting spaceship photo backdrop. Admission is free, and all visitors will receive a 10% discount on purchases in the Star Store Gift Shop during the event.

The Retirement Party for the Apollo 10 spacesuit is free and open to the public. For those unable to attend, the Cernan Center lobby exhibits are open 9 am to 8 pm Monday through Friday, except June 5, and Saturdays from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. The last day to see the spacesuit will be June 6.

Let us know you're coming here: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Dgh27dGqU/

05/17/2026

The Retirement Party starts in less than an hour! See you here soon!

After 40 years standing on duty at Triton College’s Cernan Earth and Space Center, Gene Cernan’s Apollo 10 spacesuit and twelve other artifacts will soon retire to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for restoration and relaxation.

The Cernan Earth and Space Center invites the public to offer a proper sendoff and final salute to Cernan’s flown spacesuit at a “Retirement Party” on May 17 from 2 to 4 p.m.

There will be a trivia challenge and a short program in the planetarium, as well as special explanations about the artifacts on display in the exhibit hall. Visitors are encouraged to wear space-themed attire, ranging from a full costume to a NASA T-shirt. Guests can also capture the moment in front of an orbiting spaceship photo backdrop. Admission is free, and all visitors will receive a 10% discount on purchases in the Star Store Gift Shop during the event.

The Retirement Party for the Apollo 10 spacesuit is free and open to the public. For those unable to attend, the Cernan Center lobby exhibits are open 9 am to 8 pm Monday through Friday, except June 5, and Saturdays from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. The last day to see the spacesuit will be June 6.

Let us know you're coming here: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Dgh27dGqU/

05/15/2026

With the Retirement Party for Gene Cernan's Apollo 10 Spacesuit this coming Sunday, May 17, from 2-4 pm, this article will give everyone a greater appreciation for the crafts-woman-ship that went into creating these amazing personal spacecraft.

Crafting a spacesuit demanded perfection from seamstresses to gluers to engineers — every stitch could mean life or death.

05/14/2026

Planning is underway for our Artemis III mission, which will test the capabilities of NASA's Orion spacecraft and one or both commercial landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX as they meet and dock in Earth's orbit.

This highly complex mission will be an important step to landing astronauts on the Moon with Artemis IV in 2028. Details: https://go.nasa.gov/4dv2scO

05/13/2026

Only 4 days until the Retirement Party! Make sure to mark yourself down on the event if you're planning to join us.

After 40 years standing on duty at Triton College’s Cernan Earth and Space Center, Gene Cernan’s Apollo 10 spacesuit and twelve other artifacts will soon retire to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for restoration and relaxation.

The Cernan Earth and Space Center invites the public to offer a proper sendoff and final salute to Cernan’s flown spacesuit at a “Retirement Party” on May 17 from 2 to 4 p.m.

There will be a trivia challenge and a short program in the planetarium, as well as special explanations about the artifacts on display in the exhibit hall. Visitors are encouraged to wear space-themed attire, ranging from a full costume to a NASA T-shirt. Guests can also capture the moment in front of an orbiting spaceship photo backdrop. Admission is free, and all visitors will receive a 10% discount on purchases in the Star Store Gift Shop during the event.

The Retirement Party for the Apollo 10 spacesuit is free and open to the public. For those unable to attend, the Cernan Center lobby exhibits are open 9 am to 8 pm Monday through Friday, except June 5, and Saturdays from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. The last day to see the spacesuit will be June 6.

Let us know you're coming here: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Dgh27dGqU/

05/12/2026

Take a look at this image of the Sun taken By NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. It shows a large solar flare that blew a hole in the Sun's atmosphere!

Read more here: https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=12&month=05&year=2026