Using the unique infrared sensitivity of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers can examine ancient galaxies to probe secrets of the early universe. Now, an international team of astronomers has identified bright hydrogen emission from a galaxy in an unexpectedly early time in the universe’s history. The surprise finding is challenging researchers to explain how […]
Category: Science & Research
NASA’s Webb Captures Neptune’s Auroras For First Time
Long-sought auroral glow finally emerges under Webb’s powerful gaze For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured bright auroral activity on Neptune. Auroras occur when energetic particles, often originating from the Sun, become trapped in a planet’s magnetic field and eventually strike the upper atmosphere. The energy released during these collisions creates […]
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NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Largest Organic Molecules Found on Mars
Researchers analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the Red Planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests prebiotic chemistry may have advanced further on Mars than previously observed. Scientists probed an existing rock sample inside Curiosity’s Sample Analysis […]
NASA’s Webb Telescope Unmasks True Nature of the Cosmic Tornado
Craving an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top? This random alignment of Herbig-Haro 49/50 — a frothy-looking outflow from a nearby protostar — with a multi-hued spiral galaxy may do the trick. This new composite image combining observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) provides a […]
NASA to Launch Three Rockets from Alaska in Single Aurora Experiment
Three NASA-funded rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the behavior and composition of Earth’s far upper atmosphere. The experiment’s outcome could upend a long-held theory about the aurora’s interaction with the thermosphere. It may also improve space […]
NASA’s Webb Images Young, Giant Exoplanets, Detects Carbon Dioxide
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured direct images of multiple gas giant planets within an iconic planetary system. HR 8799, a young system 130 light-years away, has long been a key target for planet formation studies. The observations indicate that the well-studied planets of HR 8799 are rich in carbon dioxide gas. This provides […]
NASA’s Webb Images Young, Giant Exoplanets, Detects Carbon Dioxide
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured direct images of multiple gas giant planets within an iconic planetary system. HR 8799, a young system 130 light-years away, has long been a key target for planet formation studies. The observations indicate that the well-studied planets of HR 8799 are rich in carbon dioxide gas. This provides […]
NASA’s Record-Shattering, Theory-Breaking MMS Mission Turns 10
Since its launch on March 12, 2015, NASA’s MMS, or Magnetospheric Multiscale, mission has been rewriting our understanding of a key physical process that is important across the universe, from black holes to the Sun to Earth’s protective magnetic field. This process, called magnetic reconnection, occurs when magnetic field lines tangle and explosively realign, flinging […]
NASA’s Webb Peers Deeper into Mysterious Flame Nebula
The Flame Nebula, located about 1,400 light-years away from Earth, is a hotbed of star formation less than 1 million years old. Within the Flame Nebula, there are objects so small that their cores will never be able to fuse hydrogen like full-fledged stars—brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs, often called “failed stars,” over time become very […]
NASA Receives Some Data Before Intuitive Machines Ends Lunar Mission
Shortly after touching down inside a crater on the Moon, carrying NASA technology and science on its IM-2 mission, Intuitive Machines collected some data for the agency before calling an early end of mission at 12:15 a.m. CST Friday. As part of the company’s second Moon delivery for NASA under the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar […]