What’s Up for January? The planets have some close encounters, the bright stars of winter, and a chance to catch a comet. All month after sunset, you can see four planets without the aid of binoculars or a telescope. You’ll find Mars in the east, Jupiter high overhead, and Saturn in the southwest with Venus. […]
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL)
Posted inSci/Tech
Two Exoplanets May Be Mostly Water, NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Find
A team led by of researchers at the University of Montreal has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are “water worlds,” where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet. These worlds, located in a planetary system 218 light-years away in the constellation Lyra, are unlike any planets found […]
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Latest International Water Satellite Packs an Engineering Punch
Set for a Thursday, Dec. 15 launch, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite promises to provide an extraordinary accounting of water over much of Earth’s surface. Its measurements of fresh water and the ocean will help researchers address some of the most pressing climate questions of our time and help communities prepare for a warming world. Making […]
Posted inEnviro
NASA Study: Rising Sea Level Could Exceed Estimates for U.S. Coasts
By 2050, sea level along contiguous U.S. coastlines could rise as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) above today’s waterline, according to researchers who analyzed nearly three decades of satellite observations. The results from the NASA Sea Level Change Team could help refine near-term projections for coastal communities that are bracing for increases in both […]
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What’s up in the sky for November
What’s Up for November? A lunar eclipse, the moon and planets, and the Leonid meteors. A total lunar eclipse is on the way, to provide a little celestial magic, early on the morning of November 8th. The eclipse will be visible to viewers in North America, the Pacific region, Australia, and Eastern Asia – anywhere […]
Posted inEnviro
Methane ‘Super-Emitters’ Mapped by NASA’s New Earth Space Mission
NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission is mapping the prevalence of key minerals in the planet’s dust-producing deserts – information that will advance our understanding of airborne dust’s effects on climate. But EMIT has demonstrated another crucial capability: detecting the presence of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In the data EMIT has […]
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NASA Study Finds Climate Extremes Affect Landslides in Surprising Ways
The results represent an early step toward developing what researchers hope will become the ability to forecast whether a slow-moving landslide will collapse. Climate change is driving more volatile precipitation patterns around the world – very dry stretches punctuated by storms that drop large amounts of rain or snow in a short amount of time. […]
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What’s up in the sky: October 2022
Jupiter and Saturn all night, Mars begins its retrograde motion, and the Orionid meteors peak! Giant planets Jupiter and Saturn are visible throughout the night in October. Early in the evening, you’ll find them to the southeast, moving slowly westward with the stars over the course of the night. They form a triangle with bright […]
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DART’s Impact with Asteroid Dimorphos (Official NASA Broadcast)
Countdown to impact as NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) attempts humanity’s first-ever test of planetary defense! The DART spacecraft will intentionally crash into asteroid Dimorphos at 4:14 p.m. PT on Monday, September 26, 2022 to see if kinetic force can change its orbit. Why? If this test is successful, the same technique could be […]
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What’s up in the sky – September 2022
What’s Up for September? Mars on the move, prime viewing time for Jupiter, and a clever way to find your bearings on the equinox. You’ll find Mars hanging out high in the south on September mornings before sunrise. Early in the month, it’s near orange-colored Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the bull. And over the course of […]
Posted inCalifornia
NASA Data on Plant ‘Sweating’ Could Help Predict Wildfire Severity
A new study uses data from the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the space station to better understand why some parts of a wildfire burn more intensely than others. Even in drought-stricken California, not all areas face the same degree of wildfire risk. A recent study featuring data from NASA’s ECOSTRESS mission found relationships between the intensity […]
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Tonga Eruption Blasted Unprecedented Amount of Water Into Stratosphere
The huge amount of water vapor hurled into the atmosphere, as detected by NASA’s Microwave Limb Sounder, could end up temporarily warming Earth’s surface. When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in […]
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What’s up in the sky for August 2022
What’s Up for August? Grab your binoculars for planet viewing, the outlook for the Perseids, and flying with Cygnus the swan. The morning planet parade we’ve been enjoying the past few months comes to an end in August, with Venus and Saturn making their exits on opposite sides of the sky. But that still leaves […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA unveils images from James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA […]
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What’s up in the sky – July 2022
What’s Up for July? The planets at dawn, the dog days of summer, and the Teapot points to the center of the Milky Way. The planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn dominate morning skies in July. Venus is there as well, but appears low in the east, so you’ll need a clear view toward the horizon […]
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My Favorite Martian Image: ‘Enchanted’ Rocks at Jezero Crater
Ask any space explorer, and they’ll have a favorite photograph or two from their mission. For Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist for NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, the first close-up image of layered rocks at the base of Jezero Crater’s ancient river delta holds a special place in her heart. The image of the […]
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What’s up for June 2022? Skywatching tips from NASA
What’s Up for June? A planetary breakup, prime viewing for a well-known star cluster, and the constellation Lyra. The gathering of four naked-eye planets we’ve been enjoying in the morning sky for the past few months – including several close conjunctions, is beginning to break up. Over the next few months, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, and […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Planetary Defense Exercise Uses Apophis as Hazardous Asteroid Stand-In
Over 100 participants from 18 countries – including NASA scientists and the agency’s NEOWISE mission – took part in the international exercise. Watching the skies for large asteroids that could pose a hazard to the Earth is a global endeavor. So, to test their operational readiness, the international planetary defense community will sometimes use a […]
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NASA’s InSight Records Monster Quake on Mars
NASA’s InSight Mars lander has detected the largest quake ever observed on another planet: an estimated magnitude 5 temblor that occurred on May 4, 2022, the 1,222nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This adds to the catalog of more than 1,313 quakes InSight has detected since landing on Mars in November 2018. The […]
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What’s Up: May 2022 Skywatching Tips from NASA
What’s Up for May? The planets of dusk and dawn, a lunar eclipse, and the Coma star cluster. May begins and ends with a couple of great planet-spotting opportunities. On May 2nd, look to the west about 45 minutes after sunset to find Mercury about 10 degrees off the horizon, accompanied by a slim crescent […]