The Solar System

How NASA Is Protecting Europa Clipper From Space Radiation

To explore the mysterious ice-encrusted moon Europa, the mission will need to endure bombardment by radiation and high-energy particles surrounding Jupiter.

Posted October 24, 2023

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Astrophysics

Black Holes

Earth-like Exoplanets

Exoplanet Detection Methods

Exoplanet Science

Exoplanet Transits

Exoplanets

Galaxies

Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes

Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research

Gas Giant Exoplanets

General

Gravitational Microlensing

Kepler / K2

Missions

Neptune-Like Exoplanets

Neutron Stars

Science & Research

Stars

Studying Exoplanets

Super-Earth Exoplanets

Terrestrial Exoplanets

TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)

The Kuiper Belt

The Milky Way

The Solar System

The Universe

Why NASA’s Roman Mission Will Study Milky Way’s Flickering Lights

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide one of the deepest-ever views into the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. The mission will monitor hundreds of millions of stars in search of tell-tale flickers that betray the presence of planets, distant stars, small icy objects that haunt the outskirts of our solar system, isolated […]

Posted October 24, 2023

Voyager Program

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Solar System

Voyager 1

Voyager 2

NASA’s Voyager Team Focuses on Software Patch, Thrusters

The efforts should help extend the lifetimes of the agency’s interstellar explorers. Engineers for NASA’s Voyager mission are taking steps to help make sure both spacecraft, launched in 1977, continue to explore interstellar space for years to come.

Posted October 20, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Goddard Space Flight Center

Jupiter

Planetary Science

Planets

The Solar System

NASA’s Webb Discovers New Feature in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Narrow jet stream near equator has winds traveling 320 miles per hour NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new, never-before-seen feature in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The high-speed jet stream, which spans more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) wide, sits over Jupiter’s equator above the main cloud decks.

Posted October 19, 2023

The Solar System

Mercury’s Strange Hollows

Enigmatic depressions on the surface have puzzled scientists since the 1970s NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft discovered strange hollows on the surface of Mercury. Images taken from orbit revealed thousands of mysterious depressions, pitted and uneven, in areas all across the planet, up to a half-mile (800 meters) across and 120 feet (37 meters) deep.

Posted October 17, 2023

Psyche Mission

Asteroids

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)

Missions

Psyche Asteroid

Technology Demonstration

Technology Demonstration Missions Program

The Solar System

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft, Optical Comms Demo En Route to Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on its voyage to an asteroid of the same name, a metal-rich world that could tell us more about the formation of rocky planets. Psyche successfully launched 10:19 a.m. EDT Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Integrated onto the […]

Posted October 13, 2023

Psyche Mission

Asteroids

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Psyche Asteroid

The Solar System

Journey to a Metal-Rich World: NASA’s Psyche Is Ready to Launch

The spacecraft is targeting an Oct. 12 liftoff atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. Its destination, a metal-rich asteroid, may tell us more about how planets form. In less than 24 hours, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is slated to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With its sights set on a mysterious asteroid of […]

Posted October 11, 2023

Earth

Citizen Science

Eclipses

Science & Research

The Solar System

The Sun

NASA Highlights Media Opportunities for Upcoming Ring of Fire Eclipse

On Saturday, Oct. 14, the Moon will pass between Earth and the Sun, giving people across the United States an opportunity to see an annular solar eclipse. NASA will host live coverage of the eclipse starting at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Media have an opportunity to interview NASA experts live prior to the eclipse, and those […]

Posted October 6, 2023

Psyche Mission

Psyche Asteroid

The Solar System

6 Things to Know About NASA’s Asteroid-Exploring Psyche Mission

The first-ever mission to study a metal-rich asteroid, Psyche aims to help scientists learn more about the formation of rocky bodies in our solar system. With a launch readiness date set for Thursday, Oct. 12, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel 2.2 billion miles from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a metal-rich asteroid in […]

Posted October 5, 2023

General

Ames Research Center

Ames Research Center's Science Directorate

Asteroids

Discovery Program

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

Planetary Science Division

Psyche Asteroid

Psyche Mission

Science Mission Directorate

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) / 747-SP

The Solar System

Clues to Psyche Asteroid’s Metallic Nature Found in SOFIA Data

When the asteroid Psyche has its first close-up with a NASA spacecraft, scientists hypothesize they will find a metal-rich asteroid. It could be part or all of the iron-rich interior of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block, that was stripped of its outer rocky shell as it repeatedly collided with other large bodies during […]

Posted October 2, 2023