An interview of Dr. Paul Hertz, a senior leader in the Science Mission Directorate
By: Anna Ladd McElhannon, Summer 2022 Intern, Office of the Chief Scientist
NASA’s now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft will find a permanent home in the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. The airplane is expected to make its final flight from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, to Tucson on... Read More
Some of the first data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has shown there were at least two, and possibly three, more unseen stars that crafted the oblong, curvy shapes of the Southern Ring Nebula.
Astronomers sorted through 200,000 Hubble images and made tens of thousands of measurements on them to look for any residual background glow in the sky, in an ambitious project called SKYSURF.
Space Experiments, Space Biology
After 908 days in low Earth orbit, a small package on board the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-6 has come home to the delight of some biological scientists. Soon they will open an aluminum alloy container that holds samples of plant seeds that they hope can be used to sustain astronauts on long... Read More
In the top left corner of this starry sight, the globular cluster NGC 2031 shines brilliantly.
Peeking out from behind the glare of a bright foreground star, astronomers have uncovered the most extraordinary example yet of a nearby galaxy with characteristics that are more like galaxies in the distant, early universe.
“Are we alone in the universe?” may be one of the most compelling questions of our generation. Direct imaging of planetary systems around other stars to detect and characterize Earth-like planets that could potentially sustain life requires telescopes that are large and extremely stable.
Open cluster KMHK 1231 is a group of stars loosely bound by gravity. Seen in the upper left of this Hubble Space Telescope image, this cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud is surrounded by a crimson nebula of gas and dust extending both to the right and downward, where new stars may someday form.
A twinkling group of stars dominates the center of this image. NGC 2002 is an open star cluster that resides roughly 160,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way containing numerous star-forming regions.
NASA renames mission in honor of Dr. George R. Carruthers
This whole collection is NGC 1858, an open star cluster in the northwest region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way that boasts an abundance of star-forming regions. NGC 1858 is estimated to be around 10 million years old.
Solar System, Sky Watching
What to look for: Mars disappears, and Pegasus rides to adventure Viewers in most of the U.S. and Europe can watch Mars slip behind the Moon on Dec. 7, and everyone can find the winged horse constellation Pegasus.
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with... Read More
Bright, blue-white stars of the open cluster BSDL 2757 pierce through the rusty-red tones of gas and dust clouds in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image.
