Tag Archives: NASAs

The inside of a star turned on itself before it spectacularly exploded, according to a new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Today, this shattered star, known as the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, is one of the best-known, well-studied objects in the sky. Over three hundred years ago, however, it was a giant star on the brink of self-destruction. The …

Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their stars’ faces. The model builds on a technique researchers have used for decades to study star spots. By improving astronomers’ understanding of spotty stars, the new model — called StarryStarryProcess — can help discover more about …

“We were interested in looking at the more durable systems,” Camarda told Ars. “The first thing I ever tested was actually an all-metallic shuttle wing leading edge, and it used heat pipes, and it was built by McDonnell Douglas. It was a competitor with the reinforced carbon-carbon, the passive leading edge system.” Ultimately, NASA went with the reinforced carbon-carbon heat …

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which is headed toward a big and bizarre metal asteroid, has delivered a stunning perspective of our home planet from deep space. Psyche launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in October 2023 with the objective of visiting the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, which is believed to be the exposed core of a demolished planetesimal, or tiny …

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a tiny new moon orbiting Uranus, a rare discovery that expands Uranus’ total known moons to 29, and the first inner one found in nearly 40 years. Provisionally named S/2025 U1, the hidden moon was first detected on February 2, 2025, and at just 10 kilometers (six miles) wide it is …

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have spotted 300 mysterious objects that may be some of the universe’s earliest galaxies. If confirmed, their existence could reshape our understanding of how galaxies first formed. (Artist’s concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.com Drawing on observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers at the University of Missouri have identified 300 unusual candidates for early …

On Sept. 11, 2022, engineers at a flight control center in Turin, Italy, sent a radio signal into deep space. Its destination was NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft flying toward an asteroid more than 5 million miles away. The message prompted the spacecraft to execute a series of pre-programmed commands that caused a small, shoebox-sized satellite contributed by the …

Asteroid Bennu, sampled by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in 2020, is a mixture of dust that formed in our solar system, organic matter from interstellar space, and pre-solar system stardust. Its unique and varied contents were dramatically transformed over time by interactions with water and exposure to the harsh space environment. These insights come from a trio of newly published papers …

Lonnie Shekhtman Aug 21, 2025 NASA’s Artemis II mission, set to send four astronauts on a nearly 10-day mission around the Moon and back, will advance the agency’s goal to land astronauts at the Moon’s south polar region and will help set the stage for future crewed Mars missions. While the Artemis II crew will be the first humans to …

Recently, the Hubble Space Telescope captured a before-and-after image of a star exploding brightly. With the images one year apart, the contrast shows how bright a supernova is, and how that brightness fades over time. What is it? The supernova explosion, designated as SN 2018gv, is found in the spiral galaxy NGC 2525. According to NASA, Hubble began observing the …