News

A stunning image released this week by the Gemini Observatory captures the graceful interactions of a galactic ballet, on a stage some 300 million light years away, that might better be described as a contortionist's dance.

Scientists who conducted the preliminary assessment of the Genesis canister are encouraged by what they see. They believe it may be possible to achieve the most important portions of their science objectives.

A nearby galaxy cluster is facing an intergalactic headwind as it is pulled by an underlying superstructure of dark matter, according to new evidence from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Here's the latest advaisory, straight from NOAA...

... at 100 m.p.h.

Astronomers have announced the first discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system about 10 to 20 times the size of Earth - far smaller than any previously detected. The planets make up a new class of Neptune-sized extrasolar planets.

Only days after Guinness World Records certified the prior flight of NASA's X-43A hypersonic technology demonstrator aircraft as a world speed record, a full-scale dress rehearsal for the last and even faster flight of the small unpiloted research aircraft is tentatively scheduled to occur on Tuesday, Sept. 7 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.

Spend a photo-virtual Summer at Kitt Peak

In a dramatic ending that marks a beginning in scientific research, NASA's Genesis spacecraft is set to swing by Earth and jettison a sample return capsule filled with particles of the Sun that may ultimately tell us more about the genesis of our solar system.

Photo by MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) MODIS is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites.

Aug. 28 Ceremony at Black Rock Mesa for $18 Million Observatory

A team of planet-hunters will announce their discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system at a NASA Science Update at 1 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, August 31. Their discovery represents a significant and much-anticipated advance in the hunt for extra-solar planets.

This spectacular image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A is the most detailed image ever made of the remains of an exploded star.

In this unusual image, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures a rare view of the celestial equivalent of a geode -- a gas cavity carved by the stellar wind and intense ultraviolet radiation from a hot young star.

These images offer a dramatic look at C153, a galaxy being ripped apart as it races at 4.5 million miles per hour through a distant cluster of galaxies. The infalling galaxy’s gas is being stripped by the pressure of 20-million-degree Celsius gas that permeates the cluster.