Category: Solar System
-
Major Martian Milestones
There’s good news from NASA’s Cloudspotting on Mars project! That’s the project that invites you to help identify exotic clouds high in the Martian atmosphere. Congratulations to the Cloudspotting on Mars team and all the volunteers who have helped spot…
-
Why is Methane Seeping on Mars? NASA Scientists Have New Ideas
The most surprising revelation from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover — that methane is seeping from the surface of Gale Crater — has scientists scratching their heads. Living creatures produce most of the methane on Earth. But scientists haven’t found convincing…
-
Hubble Goes Hunting for Small Main Belt Asteroids
Like boulders, rocks, and pebbles scattered across a landscape, asteroids come in a wide range of sizes. Cataloging asteroids in space is tricky because they are faint and they don’t stop to be photographed as they zip along their orbits…
-
What’s Up: April 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA
Catch Mars and Saturn rising, and Jupiter hangs out with Comet 12P. Plus NASA has you covered for the total eclipse whether you’re headed to totality or watching from afar.
-
ESA, NASA Solar Observatory Discovers Its 5,000th Comet
On March 25, 2024, a citizen scientist in the Czech Republic spotted a comet in an image from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, which has now been confirmed to be the 5,000th comet discovered using SOHO data. SOHO…
-
NASA Delivers Science Instrument to JAXA’s Martian Moons Mission
On March 14, NASA delivered its gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer instrument to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) for integration onto JAXA’s MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission spacecraft and final system-level testing. NASA’s Mars-moon Exploration with Gamma Ray and Neutrons (MEGANE)…
-
Hubble Tracks Jupiter’s Stormy Weather
The giant planet Jupiter, in all its banded glory, is revisited by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in these latest images, taken on January 5-6, 2024, capturing both sides of the planet. Hubble monitors Jupiter and the other outer solar system…
-
NASA Awards Grants for Lunar Instrumentation
NASA has awarded five scientists and engineers Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI) grants to support the development of instruments for potential use in future lunar missions, including the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services and Artemis campaign. The awardees…
-
Total Solar Eclipse 2024: The Moon’s Moment in the Sun
To know exactly where and when the solar eclipse will cast its shadow, we study our nearest neighbor in space.
-
Multiple Spacecraft Tell the Story of One Giant Solar Storm
April 17, 2021, was a day like any other day on the Sun, until a brilliant flash erupted and an enormous cloud of solar material billowed away from our star. Such outbursts from the Sun are not unusual, but this…