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NASA Science

NASA Science seeks to discover the secrets of the universe, search for life elsewhere, and protect and improve life on Earth and in space.

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What’s Up: September 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

LEarn

NASA’s Swift Powers On Third Instrument, Restarts Automated Slewing

Focus

Uncovering the Valleys Hidden Below Greenland’s Ice

Artist’s concept of Swift viewing a GRB

NASA Adds New Science Investigations for Moon Base

NASA selected three new scientific investigations and their payload suites to advance our knowledge of the Moon and help pave the way for building humanity’s first lunar outpost, Moon Base.

Artist’s rendering depicting astronauts, habitats, rovers, power systems, and cargo operations supporting sustained human activities at the Moon Base near the lunar South Pole.

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Help Overlap Zoo Reveal Cosmic Dust

NASA, International Partners Advance Work on Space Crops

Powerful Storms Continue to Prowl the Pacific

Catching the Light: Taking the Pulse of Puerto Rico’s Forests

In Scotland, NASA Scientists Search for Clues About Mars’ Past

Fire Cloud With a Pileus on Top

October’s Night Sky Notes: Spooky Stargazing

Uncovering the Valleys Hidden Below Greenland’s Ice

Adopt a Pixel

OVER 600,000 PIXELS CLAIMED. Did you get yours? Claim your pixel on one of the first images from NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope! When Roman captures its first images, each pixel will represent a piece of the cosmos never seen before at this resolution. Claim your pixel and be part of this historic moment!

Adopt Yours Now

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope with large dark sunshields floating against a bright purple field of stars and galaxies.

Featured Video

What’s Up: September 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

The Moon joins a tea party, Venus reaches peak brilliance, the seasons change, and the Harvest Moon meets up with some planetary neighbors.
On September 19, celebrate International Observe the Moon Night! People around the world are invited to look up and connect with our nearest celestial neighbor while learning more about lunar science, exploration, and the many ways the moon has shaped cultures around the world.
Watch to learn more!

LANDSAT

A Spaceship Called Earth

With NASA’s “Your Name in Landsat” online interactive, users can type in their name, then view and export the graphic of that name spelled out in Earth features found in Landsat images.

See Your Name in Landsat

Poster featuring vertical satellite images of Earth's diverse landscapes arranged to spell "EARTHDAY." Below the images, text reads: “Celebrate Earth from space with NASA” on a black background.

Where’s Roman?

2026 NASA Science Calendar

A dramatic photograph of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse taken from Dallas, Texas, showing the moment just after totality when the Moon blocks most of the Sun's disk against a black background. The Sun's outer atmosphere (corona) is visible as a faint white glow surrounding the Moon's silhouette. Several bright pink solar prominences—jets of plasma extending from the Sun's surface—are clearly visible along the edges of the Moon, particularly pronounced at the bottom and right edges. The lower right portion of the image shows "Bailey's beads," appearing as bright white segments where sunlight streams through valleys on the lunar limb, creating a diamond ring effect. This rare astronomical phenomenon allowed scientists to study the innermost part of the corona that is only observable during total eclipses, providing valuable data about solar energy transfer mechanisms.

Image of the Month

September – Nature’s Coronagraph.

NASA Science 2026 artwork commemorating America's 250th Anniversary. The illustration uses blue tones with warm pastel accents showing humanity's space exploration journey. An open history book at the bottom emits light, with Earth emerging above it. A pathway extends from the book past the Moon, Mars, and Saturn into deep space, featuring spacecraft including NISAR, ISS, Parker Solar Probe, LRO, MRO, Dragonfly, NEO Surveyor, Webb, and Roman Space Telescope. An Artemis astronaut and robotic rover appear on opposite pages of the book, with the astronaut stepping onto the cosmic path—symbolizing how scientific discovery leads the way for human exploration in our journey beyond Earth.

Download the Cover

Learn about those of the NASA corps who make “space sailing” their career profession.

A composite image of star cluster NGC 602 nicknamed the 'Cosmic Wreath,' combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope. The image shows a striking ring-like formation of colorful gas and dust (in orange, yellow, green, and blue) resembling a wreath, captured by Webb. At the center and throughout the wreath are bright red spots representing X-ray emissions detected by Chandra, showing hot, young massive stars powering intense stellar winds. The cluster appears set against a backdrop of countless stars and distant galaxies. Located in the Small Magellanic Cloud about 200,000 light-years from Earth, this star-forming region contains stars with fewer heavy elements than our Sun, mimicking conditions from the early universe and providing insights into cosmic evolution before our own solar system formed.

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See all images for 2026

Mark your calendars

Most Notable 2026 Astronomical Events

This year is busy for avid skywatchers, with some incredible opportunities to view meteor showers, planets, and the Moon in the night sky.

See the Top Sky Watching Events

A horizontal panoramic composition displays four distinct phases of the Moon arranged linearly against a stark, solid black background. Starting from the far left, a Full Moon is shown in complete illumination, revealing the intricate textures of its craters and dark volcanic plains. Moving to the right, the Third Quarter phase appears half-lit on the left side, followed by a New Moon depicted as a faint, dark silhouette barely distinguishable from the void. The sequence concludes on the far right with a First Quarter moon, illuminated on its right half. The progression highlights the stark play of light and shadow across the lunar topography, illustrating a simplified version of the lunar cycle.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Featured Missions

Our mission milestones showcase the breadth and depth of NASA science.

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IMAP

Launched September 24, 2025, IMAP will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a huge bubble created by the Sun surrounding and protecting our solar system.

More about IMAP

Artist's concept of Pandora viewing a transiting exoplanet

Pandora

Pandora is a small satellite designed to characterize exoplanet atmospheres and their host stars. It is slated to observe at least 20 different planets during its one year of science operations.

More about Pandora

Dragonfly on the ground

Dragonfly

Dragonfly, the first-of-its-kind rotorcraft to explore another world, will fly to various locations on Saturn’s moon Titan and investigate the moon’s habitability.

More about Dragonfly

Dive Deeper

NASA Science 2026 artwork commemorating America's 250th Anniversary. The illustration uses blue tones with warm pastel accents showing humanity's space exploration journey. An open history book at the bottom emits light, with Earth emerging above it. A pathway extends from the book past the Moon, Mars, and Saturn into deep space, featuring spacecraft including NISAR, ISS, Parker Solar Probe, LRO, MRO, Dragonfly, NEO Surveyor, Webb, and Roman Space Telescope. An Artemis astronaut and robotic rover appear on opposite pages of the book, with the astronaut stepping onto the cosmic path—symbolizing how scientific discovery leads the way for human exploration in our journey beyond Earth.

SMD Community Public Meetings

View upcoming and past community public meetings.

Public Meetings

NASA Science Strategy

Our science strategy articulates a forward-thinking vision and presents a comprehensive, cohesive and long-term roadmap for all NASA activities.

Science Strategy

People of NASA Science

Meet the individuals who are instrumental in enabling the realization of NASA Science’s extraordinary mission.

People of Science

NASA Science Careers

Discover career opportunities at NASA Science, where innovation, growth and collaboration shape the future of scientific exploration.

Science Careers

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