NASA
WFIRST's Wide Field Instrument
In order to know how the universe will end, we must know what has happened to it so far. This is just one mystery NASA's forthcoming Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission will tackle as it explores the distant cosmos. The...
NASA
Swift Mission Catches a Comet Slowdown
Observations by NASA's Swift spacecraft, now renamed the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after the mission's late principal investigator, have captured an unprecedented change in the rotation of a comet. Images taken in May 2017 reveal...
NASA
NASA’s TESS, Spitzer Missions Discover World Orbiting Unique Young Star
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope have found a young Neptune-size world orbiting AU Microscopii, a cool, nearby M dwarf star surrounded by a vast disk of debris. The discovery makes...
NASA
NASA | Animation: NASA's Swift Satellite Spots Black Hole Devouring A Star
In late March 2011, NASA's Swift satellite alerted astronomers to intense and unusual high-energy flares from a new source in the constellation Draco. They soon realized that the source, which is now known as Swift J1644+57, was the...
NASA
Fermi Detects Gamma-ray Puzzle from M31
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has found a signal at the center of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy that could indicate the presence of the mysterious stuff known as dark matter. The gamma-ray signal is similar to one seen by...
NASA
NASA | SEXTANT: Navigating by Cosmic Beacon
SEXTANT: Navigating by Cosmic Beacon Imagine a technology that would allow space travelers to transmit gigabytes of data per second over interplanetary distances or to navigate to Mars and beyond using powerful beams of light emanating...
NASA
Hubble Explores the Final Frontier
In celebration of Star Trek's new movie and 50th anniversary, the Hubble Space Telescope is sharing its newest Frontier Field image, which uses a clever trick from nature to boldly observe what no telescope has observed before. Credit:...
NASA
Going Interstellar with TESS and Kepler
For the longest time, space seemed like just a big, nearly empty place. However, as we learned more about the universe around us, we discovered other planets orbiting our Sun, and even planets that orbit other stars trillions of miles...
NASA
A Day in the Life of a NASA Satellite Team
Launched on Nov. 20, 2004, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has been on the hunt to uncover the mystery of the universe’s most powerful explosions: gamma-ray bursts. These extreme events are some of the farthest objects we’ve ever...
NASA
NASA's Kepler, Swift Missions Harvest ‘Pumpkin’ Stars
Astronomers using observations from NASA's Kepler and Swift missions have discovered a group of rapidly spinning stars that produce X-rays at more than 100 times the peak levels ever seen from the sun. The stars, which spin so fast...
NASA
NICER Mission Overview
The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) payload, destined for the exterior of the space station, will study the physics of neutron stars, providing new insight into their nature and behavior. These stars are called...
NASA
NASA's Guide To Black Hole Safety
Have you ever thought about visiting a black hole? We sure hope not. However, if you're absolutely convinced that a black hole is your ideal vacation spot, watch this video before you blast off to learn more about them and (more...
NASA
Hubble: Humanity's Quest for Knowledge
Launched on April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided more than a million observations, advancing studies of the solar system, nebulae, exoplanets, stars, black holes, galaxies, dark matter, and dark energy. The culmination...
NASA
Highlights From TESS's First Year
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered 21 planets outside our solar system and captured data on other interesting events occurring in the southern sky during its first year of science. TESS has now turned its...
NASA
Webb Telescope's Houston Highlights Time Lapse
With NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's approximately nine-month stay in Texas coming to an end, this time-lapse shows activity in the NASA Johnson Space Center's Chamber A cleanroom from the arrival of the Webb Telescope's optical and...
NASA
NASA | The Big Bang
This dominant cosmological theory suggests the Universe began nearly 13.7 billion years ago, expanding rapidly from a very dense and incredibly hot state. Eventually, stars ignited and galaxies slowly formed. The Big Bang theory has been...
NASA
NASA | Spiral Arms Point to Possible Planets in a Star's Dusty Disk
Simulations of young stellar systems suggest that planets embedded in a circumstellar disk can produce many distinctive structures, including rings, gaps and spiral arms. This video compares computer simulations of hypothetical systems...
NASA
Visit Hubble Operations for its 28th Anniversary in 360°
The Hubble Space Telescope has orbited Earth for more than 28 years, changing the way we look at the universe. Here at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, we’ll take you inside the Space Telescope Operations...
NASA
The Unique Orbit of NASA’s Newest Planet Hunter
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite - TESS - will fly in an orbit that completes two circuits around Earth every time the Moon orbits once. This special orbit will allow TESS’s cameras to monitor each patch of sky continuously...
NASA
TESS Catches its First Star-destroying Black Hole
For the first time, NASA’s planet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) watched a black hole tear apart a star from start to finish, a cataclysmic phenomenon called a tidal disruption event. The blast, named ASASSN-19bt,...
NASA
NASA’s Webb Is Sound After Completing Critical Milestones
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has successfully passed another series of critical testing milestones on its march to the launch pad. In recent acoustic and sine vibration tests, technicians and engineers exposed Webb’s spacecraft...
NASA
NASA | The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) - Vintage Reissue
NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite rocketed into Earth orbit on Nov. 18, 1989, and quickly revolutionized our understanding of the early cosmos. This video was reissued by NASA for COBE's 20th Anniversary.
NASA
NASA | Fermi's Close Call with a Soviet Satellite
NASA scientists don't often learn that their spacecraft is at risk of crashing into another satellite. But when Julie McEnery, the project scientist for NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, checked her email on March 29, 2012, she...
NASA
5 Things: Space Servicing
Just as cars need maintenance on Earth, sometimes spacecraft need fixing, too. 🛠️ When astronauts work on spacecraft in orbit, it's called space servicing. Want to know more about space servicing? Leave your questions in the comments...