NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Discovers Field of Honeycomb TexturesAs NASA’s Curiosity rover recently began climbing up a Martian valley nicknamed “Valle Grande,” it sent back images that were a familiar sight to mission scientists: honeycomb-like textures called polygonal fractures, each one about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) across. The mission has spotted small patches of these geometric shapes several times […]
APOD: 2026 July 29 – Psyche Receives Gravity Assist from MarsA video of the Psyche spacecraft flying by Mars.
Understanding How Martian Auroras Are MadeThis July 23, 2026, illustration depicts charged particles from a solar storm stripping away charged particles of Mars’ atmosphere, one of the processes of Martian atmosphere loss studied by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission. NASA MAVEN mission scientists have found that certain types of auroras on Mars form in a similar way […]
NASA Webb Explores Family Tree of Newly Discovered Distant ObjectsSince their discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, little red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of great interest to astronomers. Understanding the nature of these extremely distant, compact red sources has been a puzzling scientific endeavor. One popular theory is that little red dots are supermassive black holes known as active […]
Contractor to Civil Servant: NASA Welcomes Ray WilliamsRay Williams’ progression at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has uniquely prepared him for his new role. As part of NASA’s plan to restore core competencies by converting contractors to civil service, the New Orleans native and Grambling State University graduate now works as a supervisor for test operations support at […]
Sizing Up the Sargassum BeltSeaweed composing the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt hit near-record levels in June 2026, with the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of America both reaching all-time highs.
APOD: 2026 July 28 – Barnards Loop over Twin VolcanoesAPOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 July 28 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. OriginalAnnotated Barnards Loop […]
Smoke Blankets OregonLightning storms have ignited dozens of fires in central and eastern Oregon.
NASA Astronaut Chris Williams to Discuss Space Station MissionNASA astronaut Chris Williams will recap his recent eight-month mission aboard the International Space Station during a news conference at 2:45 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 4, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA will stream this event live through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online: https://www.nasa.gov/live United States-based media interested […]
NASA Science Soars During August Total Solar EclipseEach time the Moon covers the Sun during a total solar eclipse — darkening daytime skies and briefly revealing the Sun’s ethereal outer atmosphere, the corona — it presents new opportunities to better understand our star and its influence on Earth. On Wednesday, Aug. 12, as the next total solar eclipse sweeps over Greenland, Iceland, […]