Magnetic “Highway” Fuels Massive Ejection of Gas and Dust Out of the Cigar Galaxy
What’s fueling the massive ejection of gas and dust out of the Cigar galaxy, otherwise known as Messier 82? We know that thousands of stars…
Ames Research Center
Galaxy Survives Black Hole’s Feast – “Goes Against All the Current Scientific Predictions”
The hungriest of black holes are thought to gobble up so much surrounding material they put an end to the life of their host galaxy….
Mitochondrial Changes Key to Human Health Problems in Space
Living in space isn’t easy. There are notable impacts on the biology of living things in the harsh environment of space. A team of scientists…
NASA Planet-Hunter Data Reveals That 50% of Sun-Like Stars Could Host Potentially Habitable Planets
Since astronomers confirmed the presence of planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, humanity has wondered how many could harbor life. Now, we’re one step closer…
Opposite World: Pluto’s Ice Caps Made of Methane, Turns Earth’s Process Upside Down
The mountains discovered on Pluto during the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of the dwarf planet in 2015 are covered by a blanket of methane ice,…
Astrobotic Selected by NASA to Fly VIPER Rover to the Moon [Video]
NASA has awarded Astrobotic of Pittsburgh $199.5 million to deliver NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon’s South Pole in late 2023….
Self-Replicating, Self-Repairing Homes on the Moon and Mars Made of Fungi
Science fiction often imagines our future on Mars and other planets as run by machines, with metallic cities and flying cars rising above dunes of…
SOFIA’s Infrared View of the Skies Uncovers Massive Newborn Stars and Celestial Magnetic Fields
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, studies the universe with infrared light. That’s a range of wavelengths on the infrared spectrum, from those measuring…
Uncovering the Secrets of the Swan Nebula From a Telescope Flying on a Boeing 747
One of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions in our galaxy, the Omega, or Swan, Nebula, came to resemble the shape resembling a swan’s…
Telescope on Airplane Captures Never Seen Before Details of Our Milky Way Galaxy
SOFIA Reveals New View of Milky Way’s Center NASA has captured an extremely crisp infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Spanning…
Evidence of Significant Hydration Near the Martian Equator
New research on older data from NASA’s Mars Orbiter reveals evidence of significant hydration near the Martian equator — a mysterious signature in a region…
Astronomers Solve the Mystery of Pluto’s Giant Blades of Ice
New research reveals that the strange formations on Pluto’s surface are made almost entirely of methane ice, and likely formed as a specific kind of…
How Light Looks Different on the Moon and What NASA Is Doing About It
A team at NASA’s Ames Research Center has created a simulated lunar environment to study lighting conditions experienced at the unexplored poles of the Moon….
NASA Researchers Simulate Life-Threatening Asteroid Impacts
Using the Pleiades supercomputer, NASA scientists are simulating asteroid impacts to help identify possible life-threatening events. When an asteroid struck the Russian city of Chelyabinsk…
Astronomers Identify a Regular Pattern in the Orbits TRAPPIST-1 Planets
Using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has identified a regular pattern in the orbits of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. This…
New SOFIA Observations Show Ceres’ True Composition
New SOFIA observations show the true composition of Ceres, revealing that it does not appear to have the carbon-rich surface composition that telescopes previously indicated….
Speckle Imaging Helps Provide the Highest-Resolution Images Available of TRAPPIST-1
Using the Gemini-South telescope and a speckle imaging camera, a team of astronomers have obtained the highest-resolution images available of TRAPPIST-1. When it comes to…
New Research Shows Giant Tsunamis Once Battered the Coastlines of Mars
New research from NASA indicates that giant tsunamis played a fundamental role in forming Martian coastal terrain, removing much of the controversy that for decades…