Skip to main content

Latest by G. Torbet

An illustration shows a spacecraft from NASA's DART mission approaching the asteroid it was intended to redirect.

Is that asteroid a problem? Meet the planetary defense squad that decides

Earth is surrounded by potential threats like asteroids and comets, but a team of NASA scientists is always on the lookout.
Combined observations from NASA’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and Hubble’s WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3) show spiral galaxy NGC 5584, which resides 72 million light-years away from Earth. Among NGC 5584’s glowing stars are pulsating stars called Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernova, a special class of exploding stars. Astronomers use Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae as reliable distance markers to measure the universe’s expansion rate.

New James Webb data shows that the crisis in cosmology persists

In the last few decades, one big question has created a crisis in the field of cosmology: How fast is the universe expanding?
Galactic Center X-ray

Five new images from Chandra reveal cosmic objects in X-ray wavelength

A series of five new images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory show the beauty of space as seen in the X-ray wavelength.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s high resolution, near-infrared look at Herbig-Haro 211 reveals exquisite detail of the outflow of a young star, an infantile analogue of our Sun. Herbig-Haro objects are formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from newborn stars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds.

James Webb captures the stunning outflows from an infant star

A gorgeous new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a dramatic sight created by the outbursts of energy coming from a very young star.
Artist's impression of Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe.

Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe work together on a puzzle about our sun

The sun's corona, or its outer atmosphere, is hundreds of times hotter than its surface, and it's still not clear exactly what that should be the case.
This illustration shows what exoplanet K2-18 b could look like based on science data. K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18 in the habitable zone and lies 120 light years from Earth.

James Webb sees evidence of an ocean-covered ‘Hycean’ exoplanet

James Webb has once again peered into the atmosphere of an exoplanet, and this time it has identified indications that the planet could be covered in ocean.
This bottom up view shows the Soyuz MS-24 rocket’s first stage boosters as the spacecraft stands at its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

How to watch three astronauts launch to the ISS on Friday

On Friday, September 15, a crew of three astronauts will be launching on a Russian Soyuz rocket headed for the International Space Station. Here's how to watch.
Swift J0230 occurred over 500 million light-years away in a galaxy named 2MASX J02301709+2836050, captured here by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii.

Swift Observatory spots a black hole snacking on a nearby star

The Swift Observatory caught a new phenomenon: a black hole snacking on a star -- not totally destroying it, but pulling off material and nibbling away at it.
Scientists have used the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) in a new mode of operation to record part of the Sun’s atmosphere that has been almost impossible to image until now. By covering the Sun’s bright disc with an ‘occulter’ inside the instrument, EUI can detect the million-times fainter ultraviolet light coming from the surrounding corona.

Scientists ‘hack’ Solar Orbiter’s camera to get a better look at the sun

The instrument team for the Solar Orbiter's ultraviolet camera have found a new way to make use of the instrument to help it peer into the sun's atmosphere.
The Indian Space Research Organization's lunar lander for the Chanrayaan-3 mission.

India’s Chandrayaan 3 lander may have detected its first moonquake

India's Chandrayaan 3 only recently made its historic lunar landing, but it is already collecting intriguing new data about the moon.
This colorful image of the globular star cluster Terzan 12 is a spectacular example of how dust in space affects starlight coming from background objects.

See the sparkling Terzan 12 globular cluster in new Hubble image

A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a stunning field of thousands of stars, part of a globular star cluster called Terzan 12.
Technicians at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory lower the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument into the belly of the Perseverance rover.

Perseverance rover’s Mars oxygen machine comes to the end of its mission

MOXIE is a small box inside the rover which takes in carbon dioxide and converts it into oxygen. After 16 successful runs, the experiment has been concluded.
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft during a test in June 2023.

SpaceX Starship grounded by FAA until 63 fixes are made

The FAA has completed its investigation in the explosive test flight of the Starship in April and made a list of 63 corrective steps required before it can fly.
A team of legged rovers explores a rugged surface.

This team of legged robots could be the future of Mars exploration

We've sent wheeled rovers and even helicopters to Mars, but to explore its hidden depths, it will take robotic legwork.
Aditya-L1 ready for launch.

India will launch its first solar probe, Aditya-L1, this weekend

Following the success of its historic recent moon landing, India's space agency is launching its first solar probe this weekend.
Expedition 69 Flight Engineers (from left) Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos and Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, both from NASA, are pictured in the SpaceX pressure suits they will wear when they return to Earth aboard the company’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in September.

How to watch the Crew-6 astronauts return to Earth this weekend

Following a six month stay in space, four astronauts are readying to return home from the International Space Station this Sunday. Here's how to watch.
Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured this detailed image of SN 1987A (Supernova 1987A). At the center, material ejected from the supernova forms a keyhole shape. Just to its left and right are faint crescents newly discovered by Webb. Beyond them an equatorial ring, formed from material ejected tens of thousands of years before the supernova explosion, contains bright hot spots. Exterior to that is diffuse emission and two faint outer rings. In this image blue represents light at 1.5 microns (F150W), cyan 1.64 and 2.0 microns (F164N, F200W), yellow 3.23 microns (F323N), orange 4.05 microns (F405N), and red 4.44 microns (F444W).

James Webb telescope captures stunning view of a famous supernova remnant

The James Webb Space Telescope has provided one of the most detailed views yet of the stunning supernova remnant SN 1987A, created from a destructive explosion.
The graceful winding arms of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 stretch across this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Unlike the menagerie of weird and wonderful spiral galaxies with ragged or disrupted spiral arms, grand-design spiral galaxies boast prominent, well-developed spiral arms like the ones showcased in this image. This galactic portrait is a composite image that integrates data from Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI).

James Webb captures the magnificent Whirlpool Galaxy in two wavelengths

A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the Whirlpool Galaxy, a galaxy so picturesque it is designated a grand-design spiral galaxy.
Moonrise over the Syr Darya river in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on Nov. 13, 2016.

Tonight is your chance to observe a rare blue supermoon

Just in time for the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, tonight will see a rare astronomical phenomenon called a blue supermoon.
Artist's illustration of TEMPO.

Pollution-tracking NASA satellite shares its first images of air quality

NASA has shared the first images from it's air pollution tracking satellite, TEMPO, which measures pollution by observing wavelengths of light.
Neptune observed with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope.

Neptune has a dark spot of its own, and it has been imaged from Earth

Jupiter isn't the only planet with a giant spot - Neptune has one too.
The galaxy ESO 300-16 looms over this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble captures a sparkling cloud galaxy located right next door

An image from the Hubble Space Telescope shared this week by NASA shows a nearby galaxy to us, ESO 300-16.
A rocket is launched to the International Space Station at 3:27 a.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 26, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Crew-7 astronauts launch on mission to the International Space Station

At 3:27 a.m. today, Saturday August 26, four astronauts of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission launched on a journey to the International Space Station .
xrism launch livestream artist impression of pillars 1

How to watch the XRISM X-ray mission launch on Sunday

On Sunday, August 27, a joint European and Japanese X-ray mission called XRISM will launch to uncover the mysteries of the high-energy universe.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this video of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's 54th flight on Aug. 3, 2023. After performing a preflight "wiggle check" with its rotors, the helicopter takes off, hovers at an altitude of 16 feet (5 meters), and rotates to the left, before touching back down. The mission conducted the short pop-up flight to check Ingenuity's navigation system.

See Ingenuity helicopter take to the air in video captured by Perseverance rover

NASA has released a video taken by the Perseverance rover on Mars showing its companion, the helicopter Ingenuity, in flight.
A Russian Soyuz rocket launches the Luna-25 mission.

Russian spacecraft crashes into the moon, ending lunar landing hopes

A Russian spacecraft has crashed into the moon. The plan had been for the Luna-25 spacecraft to land on the moon's surface in the area around the south pole.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission: View from the Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1 on August 17, 2023 just after the separation of the Lander Module from the Propulsion Module.

Indian spacecraft snaps images of the moon’s surface ahead of landing attempt

An Indian spacecraft which is approaching the moon's south pole recently snapped images of the lunar surface.
Neptune

Clouds on Neptune might be created by the sun, strangely enough

Researchers used Hubble to observe Neptune's clouds to investigate a mystery: why sometimes the planet had plentiful clouds and at other times had barely any.
The lenticular galaxy NGC 6684 bathes this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in a pale light. Captured with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, this galaxy is around 44 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pavo. Pavo – the Latin name for peacock – is a constellation in the southern sky and one of four constellations collectively known as the Southern Birds.

Hubble images our ghostly neighborhood galaxy NGC 6684

A program called Every Known Nearby Galaxy is using Hubble to observe every galaxy located within 10 megaparsecs of Earth that has not yet been imaged.
Artist conception of the system, where the smaller star induces breaking surface waves in the more massive companion.

Wild ‘heartbreak’ star has waves three times the height of the sun

An enormous new type of star that researchers are calling a heartbreak star has waves on its surface that are three time the size of our sun.
Artist’s impression of the planet Beta Pictoris b orbiting its star.

Watch a video of an exoplanet orbiting its star — made from 17 years of observations

Astronomers have created a video of an exoplanet called Beta Pictoris b, located 63 light-years away in the constellation Pictor, orbiting its star.
This annotated artist’s concept of NASA’s InSight lander on Mars points out the antennas on the spacecraft’s deck.

Mars is spinning faster every year and no one knows exactly why

The InSight lander mission ended last year, but its data reveals some surprises about Mars, including the fact that the planet is rotating faster every year.
A bright Perseid meteor streaked down on August 7, 2010, over buildings at the Stellafane amateur astronomy convention in Springfield, Vermont.

How to watch the 2023 Perseid meteor shower this weekend

This weekend sees the opportunity to catch the best meteor shower of the year, as the Earth passes through a cloud of debris from a comet called Swift–Tuttle.
A massive galaxy cluster called WHL0137-08 contains the most strongly magnified galaxy known in the universe’s first billion years: the Sunrise Arc, and within that galaxy, the most distant star ever detected, nicknamed Earendel.

James Webb captures image of the most distant star ever discovered

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the most distant star ever discovered, named Earendel.