NASA Webb Explores Family Tree of Newly Discovered Distant Objects
NASA Webb Explores Family Tree of Newly Discovered Distant Objects

Since their discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, little red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of great interest to astronomers. Understanding the nature of these extremely distant, compact red sources has been a puzzling scientific endeavor. One popular theory is that little red dots are supermassive black holes known as active […]

Sizing Up the Sargassum Belt
Sizing Up the Sargassum Belt

Seaweed composing the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt hit near-record levels in June 2026, with the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of America both reaching all-time highs.

NASA’s Swift Sees ‘Wandering’ Mega Black Hole Shredding Star
NASA’s Swift Sees ‘Wandering’ Mega Black Hole Shredding Star

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory captured an “orphan” black hole lighting up as it devoured a star on the outskirts of a faraway galaxy. These phenomena are rare to begin with, and none had ever before been seen so far outside of a galaxy’s core. “We were looking for these star-shredding events as a way […]

NASA’s ESCAPADE Snaps Family Portrait of Earth, Moon
NASA’s ESCAPADE Snaps Family Portrait of Earth, Moon

On July 3, one of NASA’s two Mars-destined ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft captured photos of Earth and the Moon in visible and thermal infrared light. At the time, the spacecraft was 363,250 miles (584,600 kilometers) from Earth and 115,600 miles (186,100 kilometers) from the Moon, making the Moon appear relatively […]

Hubble Spies One-Sided Spiral
Hubble Spies One-Sided Spiral

This Hubble image features spiral galaxy NGC 4654, located 72 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden).

NASA’s MAVEN Illuminates New Understanding of Auroras at Mars
NASA’s MAVEN Illuminates New Understanding of Auroras at Mars

NASA MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission scientists have uncovered a key puzzle piece in understanding certain types of auroras on Mars, finding that they form in a similar way to Earth-based auroras. Results published Thursday in Nature Communications show the same mechanism that circulates and catapults charged particles into Earth’s atmosphere is happening at […]

Robotic Servicing Mission Launches with NASA Support
Robotic Servicing Mission Launches with NASA Support

Following its liftoff from Cape Canaveral on July 21 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) hosting the NASA-supported Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) payload is now en route to geosynchronous Earth orbit, where it will use its advanced robotics to service spacecraft. RSGS leverages in-space robotics expertise from NASA, […]

A Week of Smoky Skies Across North America
A Week of Smoky Skies Across North America

Brown carbon, emitted by wildland fires and tracked over the span of a week in July 2026, worsened air quality in parts of the U.S. and Canada.

NASA to Host Media Briefing on Roman Telescope, Launching Next Month
NASA to Host Media Briefing on Roman Telescope, Launching Next Month

Media are invited to join NASA for a virtual news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, July 29, to preview the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission, scheduled to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 30. NASA will stream this event live through a variety of platforms. Learn where […]