Category: Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Pinpoints Young Stars in Spiral Galaxy

In this image, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope peers into the spiral galaxy NGC 1317 in the constellation Fornax, located more than 50 million light-years from Earth. Visible in this galaxy image is a bright blue ring that hosts hot, young stars. NGC 1317 is one of a pair, but its rowdy larger neighbor, NGC […]

Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System

Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system. Now there is definitive evidence: Researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a […]

Webb’s Titan Forecast: Partly Cloudy With Occasional Methane Showers

Saturn’s moon Titan is an intriguing world cloaked in a yellowish, smoggy haze. Similar to Earth, the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and has weather, including clouds and rain. Unlike Earth, whose weather is driven by evaporating and condensing water, frigid Titan has a methane cycle. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, supplemented with images from the […]

NASA’s Webb Reveals New Details, Mysteries in Jupiter’s Aurora

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our solar system’s largest planet. The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth. With Webb’s advanced sensitivity, astronomers have studied the phenomena to better understand Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Auroras are created when high-energy particles enter […]

NASA’s Webb Reveals New Details, Mysteries in Jupiter’s Aurora

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our solar system’s largest planet. The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth. With Webb’s advanced sensitivity, astronomers have studied the phenomena to better understand Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Auroras are created when high-energy particles enter […]

What NASA Is Learning from the Biggest Geomagnetic Storm in 20 Years

One year on, NASA scientists are still making huge discoveries about the largest geomagnetic storm to hit Earth in two decades, the Gannon storm. The findings are helping us better understand and prepare for the ways in which the Sun’s activity can affect us. One year ago today, representatives from NASA and about 30 other […]

What NASA Is Learning from the Biggest Geomagnetic Storm in 20 Years

One year on, NASA scientists are still making huge discoveries about the largest geomagnetic storm to hit Earth in two decades, the Gannon storm. The findings are helping us better understand and prepare for the ways in which the Sun’s activity can affect us. One year ago today, representatives from NASA and about 30 other […]

What NASA Is Learning from the Biggest Geomagnetic Storm in 20 Years

One year on, NASA scientists are still making huge discoveries about the largest geomagnetic storm to hit Earth in two decades, the Gannon storm. The findings are helping us better understand and prepare for the ways in which the Sun’s activity can affect us. One year ago today, representatives from NASA and about 30 other […]

Hubble Comes Face-to-Face with Spiral’s Arms

The spiral galaxy NGC 3596 is on display in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image that incorporates six different wavelengths of light. NGC 3596 is situated 90 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, the Lion. British astronomer Sir William Herschel first documented the galaxy in 1784. NGC 3596 appears almost perfectly face-on when […]