NASA
HIRMES: SOFIA's latest high-resolution Mid-infrared Spectrometer
A team from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is developing a new, third-generation facility science instrument for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA. The High Resolution Mid-InfrarEd...
NASA
NASA Team Explores Using LISA Pathfinder as a 'Comet Crumb' Detector
LISA Pathfinder, a mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) with contributions from NASA, has successfully demonstrated critical technologies needed to build a space-based observatory for detecting ripples in space-time called...
NASA
NASA | Fermi Detects Gamma Rays from a Solar Flare
During a powerful solar blast in March, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun. The discovery heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new...
NASA
James Webb Space Telescope Laser-Focused Sight
About 1 million miles away from the nearest eye surgeon, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be able to perfect its own vision while in orbit. Though the Webb telescope will focus on stars and galaxies approximately 13.5 billion...
NASA
NICER Catches Milestone X-ray Burst
A thermonuclear blast on a pulsar called J1808 resulted in the brightest burst of X-rays seen to date by NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope. The explosion, which occurred on a pulsar known as J1808 on...
NASA
NASA's Fermi Mission Shows How Luck Favors the Prepared
In 2017, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope played a pivotal role in two important breakthroughs occurring just five weeks apart. But what might seem like extraordinary good luck is really the product of research, analysis,...
NASA
NASA's Fermi Finds the Farthest Blazars
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has identified the farthest gamma-ray blazars, a type of galaxy whose intense emissions are powered by supersized black holes. Light from the most distant object began its journey to us when the...
NASA
TESS Mission's First Earth-size World in Star's Habitable-zone
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered its first Earth-size planet in its star's habitable zone, the range of distances where conditions may be just right to allow the presence of liquid water on the surface....
NASA
OSIRIS-REx Observes a Black Hole
University students and researchers working on a NASA mission orbiting a near-Earth asteroid have made an unexpected detection of a phenomenon 30,000 light-years away. Last fall, the student-built Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer...
NASA
NASA in Silicon Valley: Jessie Dotson Talks About Discovering Exoplanets
A conversation with Jessie Dotson, project scientist for the Kepler spacecraft’s K2 mission at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.
NASA
Unraveling the Mysteries of Dark Energy with NASA's WFIRST
Scientists have discovered that a mysterious pressure dubbed "dark energy" makes up about 68 percent of the total energy content of the cosmos, but so far we don't know much more about it. Exploring the nature of dark energy is one of...
NASA
Swift Links Neutrino to Star-destroying Black Hole
For only the second time, astronomers have linked an elusive particle called a high-energy neutrino to an object outside our galaxy. Using ground- and space-based facilities, including NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, they traced...
NASA
NASA Reveals Alien Composition of 2I/Borisov, 1st Interstellar Comet
When amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov discovered an interstellar comet zipping through our solar system on Aug. 30, 2019, scientists promptly turned their telescopes toward it hoping to catch a glimpse of this rare and ephemeral event....
NASA
NASA | Suzaku: The Intergalactic Prospector
Recently astronomers used the Suzaku orbiting X-ray observatory, operated jointly by NASA and the Japanese space agency, to discover the largest known reservoir of rare metals in the universe. Suzaku detected the elements chromium and...
NASA
Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 34, Science in the 2020s Small Steps, Giant Leaps
NASA Scientist Michelle Thaller discusses anticipated discoveries and exciting missions planned during this decade.
NASA
Simulated Image Shows the Power of NASA’s WFIRST
NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, WFIRST, will capture the equivalent of 100 high-resolution Hubble images in a single shot, imaging large areas of the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble. In several months, WFIRST could survey...
NASA
NASA's Fermi Links Cosmic Neutrino to Monster Black Hole
For the first time ever, scientists using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have found the source of a high-energy neutrino from outside our galaxy. This neutrino traveled 3.7 billion years at nearl-light speed before being detected...
NASA
NASA | Our Violent Universe
Our universe is more than a serene landscape of stars--it is teeming with activity from some extremely violent events. In a presentation at the IMAX theatre at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. on...
NASA
NASA | Beyond Einstein: Part I
View "Beyond Einstein: Part II" at:Albert Einstein's theories rank among humanity's greatest achievements. They sparked the scientific revolution of the 20th Century. In their attempts to understand how space, time and matter are...
NASA
Star Gives Birth to Possible Black Hole in Hubble and Spitzer Images
A team of astronomers at The Ohio State University watched a star disappear and possibly become a black hole. Instead of becoming a black hole through the expected process of a supernova, the black hole candidate formed through a "failed...
NASA
NASA | The Webb Telescope
The Webb Telescope will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the...
NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center Virtual Tour
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is one of the few space organizations that can manage a mission from beginning to end: imagine it, build it, test it, launch it and reap the scientific benefits. Come take a...
NASA
NASA | Afterschool Universe: Supernova Can Crunch
Afterschool Universe is an out-of-school-time astronomy program for middle school students that explores basic astronomy concepts through engaging hands-on activities and then takes participants on a journey through the Universe beyond...
NASA
How NASA’s Newest Planet Hunter Scans the Sky
TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is NASA's newest exoplanet mission. Led by MIT, TESS will find thousands of new planets orbiting nearby stars. During its two year survey, TESS will watch a wide variety of stars, looking...