By using data from the Hubble Space Telescope combined with infrared data from ground-based telescopes, researchers were able to view the Ring Nebula’s true shape and construct a precise 3D model of the nebula. The Ring Nebula’s distinctive shape makes it a popular illustration for astronomy books. But new observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope [...]

The Herschel Space telescope has discovered a massive merging of two galaxies that took place when the universe was roughly 3 billion years old. The galaxies, collectively called HXMM01, are churning out the equivalent of 2,000 suns a year. Pasadena, California – A massive and rare merging of two galaxies has been spotted in images [...]

NASA’s lunar monitoring program detected a bright impact on the Moon when a meteoroid hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium. The resulting flash was 10 times as bright as anything they’ve ever seen before and the impact site was glowing like a 4th magnitude star. For the past 8 years, NASA astronomers have been [...]

NASA’s Curiosity rover has completed the drilling of the second rock sample on Mars and should deliver portions of the sample in coming days to laboratory instruments inside the rover. Pasadena, California – NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a [...]

In a conversation with Stanford News Service, Scott Hubbard, a Stanford professor and former NASA official, explains how NASA might bring the Kepler spacecraft back online. NASA officials announced Wednesday, May 15, that the Kepler space telescope – the agency’s primary instrument for detecting planets beyond our solar system – had suffered a critical failure [...]

NASA’s mission to bring a sample of an asteroid back to Earth is underway. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in 2016 and will rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2018, returning with a sample of it to Earth in 2023. NASA’s first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in [...]

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope captured this new image of Messier 94, also known as NGC 4736, which is located about 17 million light-years away. How many rings do you see in this new image of the galaxy Messier 94, also known as NGC 4736? While at first glance one might see a number of them, [...]

Asteroid 1998 QE2, which is believed to be about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) in size, is set to sail past Earth at a distance of roughly 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers) away, its closest approach to Earth for at least the next two centuries. On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely [...]

By using a collection of authentic PAH spectra, coupled with algorithm-driven, blind-computational analyses, astrophysicists are able to interpret previously unknown infrared emissions from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), finding that PAHs changed significantly in size, electrical charge and structure, to adjust to different environments. Scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, now have the [...]

At the end of May, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury will form a bright triangle only three degrees wide in the night’s sunset, displaying a rare triple conjunction of planets. Sunset is a special time of day. Low-hanging clouds glow vivid red and orange as the background sky turns cobalt blue. The first stars pop out [...]

As solar activity continues to build up toward what is known as solar maximum, NASA details the impacts of CME’s and space weather on Earth. Given a legitimate need to protect Earth from the most intense forms of space weather — great bursts of electromagnetic energy and particles that can sometimes stream from the sun [...]

Scientists have chosen the second drilling site for the Curiosity rover on Mars. Pasadena, California — The team operating NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has selected a second target rock for drilling and sampling. The rover will set course to the drilling location in coming days. This second drilling target, called “Cumberland,” lies about nine feet [...]