Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Night-light Imagery Tracks US Energy Transition, Global Volatility

New nighttime maps based on NASA satellite imagery are upending assumptions, revealing a world where artificial brightening and dimming have intensified over the past decade.

Posted April 13, 2026

Astrophysics

Astrophysics Division

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Spiral Galaxies

The Universe

Hubble Spies an Active Spiral

A luminous swirl set against the deep black of space, the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glows with a soft, ethereal light in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. IC 486 lies right on the edge of the constellation Gemini (the Twins), around 380 million light-years from Earth. Classified as a barred spiral galaxy, […]

Posted April 13, 2026

Artemis

Artemis 2

Earth's Moon

Goddard Space Flight Center

Johnson Space Center

Johnson's Mission Control Center

Lunar Science

Planetary Science Division

Science Mission Directorate

The Solar System

Meet NASA’s New Artemis II Science Officers

NASA’s first Artemis II science officers—Kelsey Young, Trevor Graff, and Angela Garcia—are pioneering a new era of mission operations by integrating advanced lunar science directly into Mission Control. Their work will shape how future Artemis crews observe, analyze, and deepen our understanding of the Moon.

Posted April 3, 2026

Earth Observatory

Goddard Space Flight Center

Sea Ice

Terra

Barents Sea Tied to Low Arctic Sea Ice

Patches of open water in the region contributed to low sea ice extent across the Arctic in March 2026, which tied with the lowest maximum observed in the satellite record.

Posted April 3, 2026

I Am Artemis

Artemis 2

Communicating and Navigating with Missions

Goddard Space Flight Center

Space Communications & Navigation Program

I Am Artemis: Erik Richards

Listen to this audio excerpt from Erik Richards, Near Space Network Mission Manager: For Erik Richards, supporting NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon and back is the culmination of a career spent helping spacecraft communicate with Earth. Like many kids who grew up at the height of the Space Shuttle Program, Richards dreamed of spacef

Posted March 27, 2026

Science & Research

Goddard Space Flight Center

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Science Mission Directorate

NASA to Unveil Complete Roman Telescope, Host Media Briefing

Media are invited Tuesday, April 21, to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for a look at the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which recently completed construction and is wrapping up prelaunch testing. This will be one of the last opportunities to view the fully integrated flagship telescope before it ships to […]

Posted March 26, 2026

Climate Change

Earth

Goddard Space Flight Center

ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2)

Arctic Winter Sea Ice Ties Record Low, NASA, NSIDC Scientists Find

For the second consecutive year, winter sea ice in the Arctic reached a level that matches the lowest peak observed since satellite monitoring began in 1979. On March 15, Arctic sea ice extent reached 5.52 million square miles (14.29 million square kilometers), very close to the 2025 peak of 5.53 million square miles (14.31 million […]

Posted March 26, 2026

Astrophysics Division

Comets

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Planetary Science

Small Bodies of the Solar System

The Solar System

NASA’s Hubble Detects First-Ever Spin Reversal of Tiny Comet

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that the spinning of a small comet slowed and then reversed its direction of rotation, offering a dramatic example of how volatile activity can affect the spin and physical evolution of small bodies in the solar system. This is the first time researchers have observed evidence […]

Posted March 26, 2026

Astrophysics

Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Cosmic Rays

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Spitzer Space Telescope

Supernovae

The Universe

X-ray Astronomy

XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission)

NASA-JAXA’s XRISM Telescope Clocks Hot Wind of Galaxy M82

For the first time, astronomers have directly measured the speed of superheated gas billowing from a cauldron of stellar activity at the heart of M82.

Posted March 25, 2026

Astrophysics Division

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Awards Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships for 2026

The highly competitive NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) recently named 24 new fellows to its 2026 class. The NHFP enables outstanding postdoctoral scientists to pursue independent research in any area of NASA Astrophysics, using theory, observations, simulations, experimentation, or instrument development.

Posted March 25, 2026