Goddard Space Flight Center

Astrophysics

Astrophysics Division

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Missions

Science Mission Directorate

The Universe

Hubble Sights a Galaxy with ‘Forbidden’ Light

This whirling image features a bright spiral galaxy known as MCG-01-24-014, which is located about 275 million light-years from Earth. In addition to being a well-defined spiral galaxy, MCG-01-24-014 has an extremely energetic core known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and is categorized as a Type-2 Seyfert galaxy.

Posted December 22, 2023

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Missions

Planets

Rings of Saturn

Saturn

The Solar System

NASA’s Hubble Watches ‘Spoke Season’ on Saturn

This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble’s ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn’s spokes are transient features that rotate along with the rings.

Posted December 21, 2023

Astrophysics

Black Holes

Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes

Goddard Space Flight Center

Origin & Evolution of the Universe

Supermassive Black Holes

The Sun

The Universe

NASA’s Fermi Mission Creates 14-Year Time-Lapse of the Gamma-Ray Sky

The cosmos comes alive in an all-sky time-lapse movie made from 14 years of data acquired by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Our Sun, occasionally flaring into prominence, serenely traces a path through the sky against the backdrop of high-energy sources within our galaxy and beyond. “The bright, steady gamma-ray glow of the Milky Way […]

Posted December 20, 2023

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Irregular Galaxies

Missions

The Universe

NASA’s Hubble Presents a Holiday Globe of Stars

The billion stars in galaxy UGC 8091 resemble a sparkling snow globe in this festive Hubble Space Telescope image from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). The dwarf galaxy is approximately 7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It is considered an “irregular galaxy” because it does not have an orderly spiral or […]

Posted December 20, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Goddard Space Flight Center

Missions

Planets

The Solar System

Uranus

Uranus Moons

NASA’s Webb Rings in Holidays With Ringed Planet Uranus

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently trained its sights on unusual and enigmatic Uranus, an ice giant that spins on its side. Webb captured this dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, and other atmospheric features – including a seasonal polar cap.

Posted December 18, 2023

Astrophysics

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

GUSTO (Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory)

Infrared Light

Missions

NASA Headquarters

Origin & Evolution of the Universe

Science & Research

Scientific Balloons

NASA’s GUSTO Prepares to Map Space Between the Stars

On a vast ice sheet in Antarctica, scientists and engineers are preparing a NASA experiment called GUSTO to explore the universe on a balloon. GUSTO will launch from the Ross Ice Shelf, near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station research base, no earlier than Dec. 21.

Posted December 18, 2023

Laser Communications Relay

General

Goddard Space Flight Center

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Technology Demonstration

NASA’s Space Station Laser Comm Terminal Achieves First Link

A NASA technology experiment on the International Space Station completed its first laser link with an in-orbit laser relay system on Dec. 5, 2023. Together, they complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system.

Posted December 13, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Astrophysics

Brown Dwarfs

Exoplanets

Goddard Space Flight Center

Missions

Science & Research

Stars

The Universe

NASA’s Webb Identifies Tiniest Free-Floating Brown Dwarf

Brown dwarfs are objects that straddle the dividing line between stars and planets. They form like stars, growing dense enough to collapse under their own gravity, but they never become dense and hot enough to begin fusing hydrogen and turn into a star. At the low end of the scale, some brown dwarfs are comparable […]

Posted December 13, 2023

Astrobiology

Goddard Space Flight Center

Outer Planets & Ocean Worlds Program

NASA: Some Icy Exoplanets May Have Habitable Oceans and Geysers

A NASA study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, beneath icy shells. Water from these oceans could occasionally erupt through the ice crust as geysers. The science team calculated the amount […]

Posted December 13, 2023

Earth

Goddard Space Flight Center

PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem)

New NASA Satellite To Unravel Mysteries About Clouds, Aerosols

Some of the same properties of light and optics that make the sky blue and cause rainbows can also help scientists unlock mysteries about cloud formation and the effects of tiny particles in our air. NASA’s upcoming PACE mission will offer important insights on airborne particles of sea salt, smoke, human-made pollutants, and dust – […]

Posted December 12, 2023