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Latest by G. Torbet

This image shows an artist’s impression of what the surface of the 2I/Borisov comet might look like.

This comet is a pristine visitor from the earliest days of the solar system

Observations of comet 2I/Borisov show that it has never passed near to a star before, and studying it could give clues to the makeup of the early solar system.
Artist's impression of the James Webb Space Telescope

Here’s what the James Webb Space Telescope will study in its first year

James Webb will investigate how stars are formed, research bodies within our solar system, and even search for the earliest galaxies in the universe.
This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope revisits the Veil Nebula, which was featured in a previous Hubble image release. In this image, new processing techniques have been applied, bringing out fine details of the nebula’s delicate threads and filaments of ionized gas.

Hubble scientists update famous image of the stunning Veil Nebula

Scientists at the Hubble Space Telescope have released a reworked image of the beautiful Veil Nebula, showing threads of ionized gas winding through space.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter can be seen here with all four of its legs deployed before dropping from the belly of the Perseverance rover on March 30, 2021, the 39th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

NASA’s Mars helicopter touches down on the Martian surface

The first flight of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity is fast approaching. The helicopter has now been deployed by the rover and is sitting on the Martian surface.
Engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia begin a new series of four water impact drop tests with a test version of the capsule for NASA’s Orion spacecraft to better understand what Orion and its crew may experience when landing in the Pacific Ocean after Artemis missions to the Moon.

How to watch NASA drop its brand new spacecraft into a massive swimming pool

On Tuesday, NASA will livestream a water impact test on its new Orion spacecraft, checking out how the craft responds to splashing down in a body of water.
A composite image of Uranus, combining data from the optical and X-ray wavelengths.

Scientists discover X-rays coming from Uranus

For the first time, researchers have discovered X-rays being emitted by the planet Uranus.
Engineers and technicians prepare to move the chassis of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft from its shipping container to a dolly inside JPL’s Spacecraft Assembly Facility just after the chassis was delivered by Maxar Technologies in late March of 2021.

NASA spacecraft prepares to visit the metal asteroid Psyche

NASA will soon be visiting asteroid Psyche, which is composed of iron and nickel and has been dubbed the '$10,000 quadrillion asteroid.'
A rock identified by Persverance

The Perseverance rover has found a weird green rock on Mars

The Perseverance rover currently exploring Mars has found something strange: A weird green rock that has scientists puzzled.
Illustration of a planet transiting its host star.

Upcoming Roman Space Telescope could discover 100,000 new exoplanets

The upcoming NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will use a method called microlensing to search for tens of thousands of exoplanets.
life-on-mars-artificial-atmospheres

Artificial atmospheres: How we’ll build a base with breathable air on Mars

Artificial Atmospheres: How we’ll build a base on Mars

Artificial atmospheres: How we’ll build a base with breathable air on Mars

How will we make oxygen on Mars? To get the scoop, we spoke with experts from NASA and MIT who are building a plan to make it happen.
This image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features NGC 7678 – a galaxy with one particularly prominent arm, located approximately 164 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (the Winged Horse). With a diameter of around 115,000 light-years, this bright spiral galaxy is a similar size to our own galaxy (the Milky Way) and was discovered in 1784 by the German-British astronomer William Herschel.

This peculiar galaxy has one spiral arm brighter than the others

The scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have shared another beautiful space image, this time of a strangely asymmetrical galaxy.
“Night-shining” clouds form at high altitudes in late spring and early summer.

Here are an astronaut’s favorite photos of Earth taken from space

An astronaut who served on the ISS and members of NASA's Earth Science and Remote Sensing unit share their favorite photos of Earth taken from space.
The back of the iPhone 12 Pro being held by someone.

Make sure your Apple devices are updated to protect against this vulnerability

If you have an Apple device like an iPhone or an iPad, then you should make sure that you've updated to iOS 14.4.2 as soon as possible.
An artist's impression of an asteroid approaching Earth

Good news: The Earth won’t be impacted by a 1,100-foot-long asteroid after all

A huge asteroid that gained notoriety due to its potential to impact the planet in 2068 won't strike us after all, new data shows.
X-ray Image of Galaxy M51

Listen to the sound of a nebula with the space data sonification project

The data sonification project takes signals picked up by an X-Ray observatory and translates them into sound for an auditory experience of astronomical data.
spacex footage shows starship rocket test in stunning detail

SpaceX’s big Starship high altitude test delayed until Monday

SpaceX will soon perform a test on its Starship SN11 prototype in which it is launched 6 miles into the air before coming down and attempting a clean landing.
A view of the M87 supermassive black hole in polarised light

This incredible image shows the magnetic field of a black hole

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project has released another new and unique view of a black hole: An image which shows a black hole's magnetic field.
Illustration of TESS

2,200 exoplanet candidates discovered in 2 years: TESS has been busy

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is celebrating more than 2,200 exoplanet candidates discovered in its first two years of operations.
Illustration of an exoplanet

NASA wants to use a tiny satellite to help investigate exoplanet atmospheres

NASA is considering launched a small satellite called Pandora that could help investigate the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system.
An illustration of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter flying on Mars

Here’s the plan for the first flight of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity

NASA has announced more details about the much-awaited first flight of the companion to the Mars rover Perseverance, the helicopter Ingenuity.
harvesting hydration on mars

Harvesting hydration: How future settlers will create and collect water on Mars

Mars looks like a dry, inhospitable desert. So where will explorers get water from? We spoke to three experts to find out.
harvesting hydration on mars

Finding blue on a red planet: How explorers will collect, cultivate water on Mars

Centaurus A sports a warped central disk of gas and dust, which is evidence of a past collision and merger with another galaxy. It also has an active galactic nucleus that periodically emits jets. It is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky and only about 13 million light-years away from Earth, making it an ideal target to study an active galactic nucleus – a supermassive black hole emitting jets and winds – with NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

How James Webb will peer through a dusty cloud to study supermassive black hole

NASA has shared a glimpse into the work the James Webb telescope will perform in a profile of research to be conducted on the nearby galaxy Centaurus A.
This image shows an artist’s impression of winds in Jupiter’s stratosphere near the planet’s south pole, with the blue lines representing wind speeds.

Dramatic winds on Jupiter are a ‘unique meteorological beast’

The first measurement of winds in Jupiter's stratosphere found winds of up to 900 mph near the poles which whipped around in narrow bands called jets.
This mosaic of Mars is composed of about 100 Viking Orbiter images. The images were acquired in 1980 during mid-northern summer on Mars.

What happened to Mars’ water? It’s more complicated than we thought

Scientists agree that billions of years ago, Mars had liquid water on its surface which formed lakes and oceans. But where did Mars's water go?
Hubble Space Telescope images of Saturn taken in 2018, 2019, and 2020 as the planet’s northern hemisphere summer transitions to fall.

Hubble captures seasonal weather changes on Saturn

Saturn's seasons last more than seven years, but Hubble has captured small changes which show its northern hemisphere transitioning from summer to fall.
This image of the spiral galaxy Messier 106, or NGC 4258, was taken with the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. A popular target for amateur astronomers, Messier 106 can also be spotted with a small telescope in the constellation Canes Venatici.

This beautiful galaxy is being warped by its hungry supermassive black hole

This spiral galaxy is named Messier 106, or NGC 4258, and despite its apparently tranquil appearance, it is the site of a hungry, hungry black hole.
An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, the large liquid methane sea on Saturn’s moon Titan.

Saturn’s moon Titan could be the perfect place to host life

New research suggests that hydrocarbons and liquid water could mix on TItan, creating the perfect petri dish for life to potentially emerge.
The Soyuz MS-17 crew ship, with three Expedition 64 crew members inside, is pictured after undocking from the Rassvet module beginning its short trip to the Poisk module.

International Space Station astronauts do a Soyuz shuffle

To prepare for the arrival of an incoming flight to the ISS, the crew took a currently docked Soyuz craft on a short trip to the other side of the station.
In this illustration, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Ingenuity arrived at Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity is getting ready for its first flight

NASA has announced that it plans to begin Ingenuity's test flights in the first week of April, depending on vehicle positioning and other details.
This painting by William K. Hartmann, who is a senior scientist emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, is based on a commission from Michael Belton and shows a concept of the ‘Oumuamua object as a pancake-shaped disk

Interstellar visitor ‘Oumuamua was a piece of Pluto-like planet, not aliens

In 2017, a cigar-shaped object was spotted in the sky and was identified as coming from outside our solar system. Now researchers think they know what it was.
Life on Mars Astro Agriculture Feature

Astroagriculture: How we’ll grow crops on Mars

If we ever hope to keep astronauts alive on Mars for a long-term visit, we'll need to figure out how to grow crops in Martian soil. Is such a thing possible?
This unusual lenticular galaxy, which is between a spiral and elliptical shape, has lost almost all the gas and dust from its signature spiral arms, which used to orbit around its center. Known as NGC 1947, this galaxy was discovered almost 200 years ago by James Dunlop, a Scottish-born astronomer who later studied the sky from Australia. NGC 1947 can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, in the constellation Dorado (the Dolphinfish).

Hubble captures an aging galaxy that is slowly fading away

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured this beautiful image of a lenticular galaxy called NGC 1947.