Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Finds Surprises Around a Star That Erupted 40 Years Ago

Astronomers have used new data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the retired SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) as well as archival data from other missions to revisit one of the strangest binary star systems in our galaxy – 40 years after it burst onto the scene as a bright and long-lived nova. A nova is a star […]

Posted June 10, 2024

Mars

Curiosity (Rover)

Goddard Space Flight Center

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)

NASA Watches Mars Light Up During Epic Solar Storm

In addition to producing auroras, a recent extreme storm provided more detail on how much radiation future astronauts could encounter on the Red Planet. Mars scientists have been anticipating epic solar storms ever since the Sun entered a period of peak activity earlier this year called solar maximum. Over the past month, NASA’s Mars rovers […]

Posted June 10, 2024

Earth

Aerosols

Goddard Space Flight Center

Oceans

PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem)

PACE Celebrates National Ocean Month With Colorful Views of the Planet

What do you give to an ocean that has everything? This year, for National Ocean Month, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite— is gifting us a unique look at our home planet. The visualizations created with data from the satellite, which launched on Feb. 8, are already enhancing the ways that we view […]

Posted June 7, 2024

Astrophysics

Astrophysics Division

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Missions

Spiral Galaxies

The Universe

Hubble Examines a Barred Spiral’s Light

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3059, which lies about 57 million light-years from Earth. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 collected the data in May 2024 as part of an observing program that studied a number of galaxies. All of the observations used the same range of filters: partially […]

Posted June 7, 2024

Earth

Goddard Space Flight Center

Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO)

NASA Scientists Take to the Seas to Study Air Quality

Satellites continuously peer down from orbit to take measurements of Earth, and this week a group of scientists set sail to verify some of those data points. On June 2, the SCOAPE (Satellite Coastal and Oceanic Atmospheric Pollution Experiment) research team, in partnership with the U.S.

Posted June 6, 2024

Marshall Space Flight Center

General

Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA, Global Astronomers Await Rare Nova Explosion

Around the world this summer, professional and amateur astronomers alike will be fixed on one small constellation deep in the night sky. But it’s not the seven stars of Corona Borealis, the “Northern Crown,” that have sparked such fascination. It’s a dark spot among them where an impending nova event – so bright it will […]

Posted June 6, 2024

Astrophysics

Astrophysics Division

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Missions

The Universe

NASA to Change How It Points Hubble Space Telescope

After completing a series of tests and carefully considering the options, NASA announced Tuesday work is underway to transition its Hubble Space Telescope to operate using only one gyroscope (gyro). While the telescope went into safe mode May 24, where it now remains until work is complete, this change will enable Hubble to continue exploring […]

Posted June 4, 2024

People of Goddard

Goddard Space Flight Center

People of NASA

Ted Michalek: Engineering from Apollo to Artemis

From the first lunar footsteps of Apollo to the threshold of humanity’s return aboard the Artemis missions, Ted Michalek has been part of the fabric of Goddard for 55 years — and counting!

Posted June 4, 2024

Science & Research

Astrophysics

Exoplanet Science

Goddard Space Flight Center

Science Mission Directorate

The Search for Life

NASA Awards Advance Technologies for Future Habitable Worlds Mission

NASA announced Friday it selected three industry proposals to help develop technologies for future large space telescopes and plan for the agency’s Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept, which could be the first space telescope designed to search for life outside our solar system.

Posted May 31, 2024

Earth

Airborne Science

Goddard Space Flight Center

Ice & Glaciers

Langley Research Center

Sea Ice

Wallops Flight Facility

NASA Mission Flies Over Arctic to Study Sea Ice Melt Causes

It’s not just rising air and water temperatures influencing the decades-long decline of Arctic sea ice. Clouds, aerosols, even the bumps and dips on the ice itself can play a role. To explore how these factors interact and impact sea ice melting, NASA is flying two aircraft equipped with scientific instruments over the Arctic Ocean […]

Posted May 31, 2024