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…
Ames Research Center News
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…
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…
Kepler Discovers a Planetary Object Being Vaporized by a White Dwarf
Using the repurposed Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered evidence of a tiny, rocky object being torn apart as it spirals around a white dwarf…
NASA Engineers Successfully Test Heat Shield for Future Mars Exploration Vehicles
NASA engineers have successfully completed heat shield testing of an Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT) model under conditions akin to entering the Martian…
Scientists Reproduce the Building Blocks of Life
Scientists from NASA’s Ames Research Center have demonstrated for the first time that they can make uracil, cytosine, and thymine, all three components of RNA…
Microgravity Mimics Aging in Immune Cells
Changes in T-cell behavior quickly occur in space, allowing researchers to more effectively study genetic and molecular changes associated with aging-related immune suppression. Telling someone…
Online Database Tracks Organic Nano-Particles Across the Universe
New updates to the PAH Infrared Spectroscopic Database allow scientists to map the distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and track its role across the universe….
Researchers Simulate the Formation of Massive Stars from Turbulent Molecular Clouds
Using the Pleiades supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility, researchers perform large-scale supercomputing simulations of massive stars forming from the collapse of giant,…
Astronomers Discover Misaligned Planets in a Distant Planetary System
In a newly published study, researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center and Iowa State University detail the discovery of two planets in the Kepler-56 planetary…
New Astronomical Tool Traces the Evolution of Cosmic Carbon
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…