"I have looked farther into space than ever a human being did before me."

— William Herschel

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A Mission To Observe Earth's "Halo" Is On Its Way

Universe Today - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:25am

Some NASA missions are designed for very specific tasks, but all of them help feed into our understanding of our universe, and in some cases our pale blue dot, work. A new mission to study one of the more esoteric parts of the atmosphere is scheduled to launch today, and over the next 2-3 years will monitor the outer reaches of our planet’s atmosphere.

Categories: Astronomy

Liquid Water Flowed On Ryugu More Than One Billion Years After It Formed

Universe Today - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:25am

Researchers working with a sample from asteroid Ryugu discovered that water flowed on the asteroid almost one billion years after it formed. The finding suggests that carbon-rich asteroids could've delivered far more water to Earth than thought.

Categories: Astronomy

Lunar Astronauts Could Grow Their Own Tea

Universe Today - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:25am

A team of researchers from Kent have demonstrated that it is possible to grow tea in lunar soil as part of a wider field of work to explore how future astronauts living and working on the moon can grow their own food.

Categories: Astronomy

Could Dark Energy Be Evolving Over Time?

Universe Today - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:25am

A new study, based on years of precise data from telescopes such as the Dark Energy Survey in Chile, above, suggests that the mysterious force known as dark energy may be evolving over time rather than constant.

Categories: Astronomy

The Galaxy's Influence on Earth can be Found in Crystals

Universe Today - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:25am

Earth’s History Written in the Stars: Zircon Crystals Reveal Galactic Influence kerryhensley45577 Tue, 09/16/2025 - 10:27 Earth’s History Written in the Stars: Zircon Crystals Reveal Galactic Influence https://www.curtin.edu.au/news/media-release/earths-history-written-in-the-stars-zircon-crystals-reveal-galactic-influence/

Categories: Astronomy

How fast you age may be controlled by a DNA repair boss in your cells

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:00am
When a key protein regulator dials down DNA repair mechanisms, our cells accumulate more mutations, which may cause us to age faster
Categories: Astronomy

How fast you age may be controlled by a DNA repair boss in your cells

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:00am
When a key protein regulator dials down DNA repair mechanisms, our cells accumulate more mutations, which may cause us to age faster
Categories: Astronomy

Hubble Captures Puzzling Galaxy

NASA News - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:00am
Explore Hubble

2 min read

Hubble Captures Puzzling Galaxy This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy NGC 2775.ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy that’s hard to categorize. The galaxy in question is NGC 2775, which lies 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (the Crab). NGC 2775 sports a smooth, featureless center that is devoid of gas, resembling an elliptical galaxy. It also has a dusty ring with patchy star clusters, like a spiral galaxy. Which is it: spiral or elliptical — or neither?

Because we can only view NGC 2775 from one angle, it’s difficult to say for sure. Some researchers classify NGC 2775 as a spiral galaxy because of its feathery ring of stars and dust, while others classify it as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies have features common to both spiral and elliptical galaxies.

Astronomers aren’t certain of exactly how lenticular galaxies come to be, and they might form in a variety of ways. Lenticular galaxies might be spiral galaxies that merged with other galaxies, or that have mostly run out of star-forming gas and lost their prominent spiral arms. They also might have started out more like elliptical galaxies, then collected gas into a disk around them.

Some evidence suggests that NGC 2775 merged with other galaxies in the past. Invisible in this Hubble image, NGC 2775 has a tail of hydrogen gas that stretches almost 100,000 light-years around the galaxy. This faint tail could be the remnant of one or more galaxies that wandered too close to NGC 2775 before being stretched apart and absorbed. If NGC 2775 merged with other galaxies in the past, it could explain the galaxy’s strange appearance today.

Most astronomers classify NGC 2775 as a flocculent spiral galaxy. Flocculent spirals have poorly defined, discontinuous arms that are often described as “feathery” or as “tufts” of stars that loosely form spiral arms.

Hubble previously released an image of NGC 2775 in 2020. This new version adds observations of a specific wavelength of red light emitted by clouds of hydrogen gas surrounding massive young stars, visible as bright, pinkish clumps in the image. This additional wavelength of light helps astronomers better define where new stars are forming in the galaxy.

Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, MD

Share Details Last Updated Sep 26, 2025 EditorAndrea GianopoulosLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble News

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Online Activities

Categories: NASA

Hubble Captures Puzzling Galaxy

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:00am
Explore Hubble

2 min read

Hubble Captures Puzzling Galaxy This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy NGC 2775.ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy that’s hard to categorize. The galaxy in question is NGC 2775, which lies 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (the Crab). NGC 2775 sports a smooth, featureless center that is devoid of gas, resembling an elliptical galaxy. It also has a dusty ring with patchy star clusters, like a spiral galaxy. Which is it: spiral or elliptical — or neither?

Because we can only view NGC 2775 from one angle, it’s difficult to say for sure. Some researchers classify NGC 2775 as a spiral galaxy because of its feathery ring of stars and dust, while others classify it as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies have features common to both spiral and elliptical galaxies.

Astronomers aren’t certain of exactly how lenticular galaxies come to be, and they might form in a variety of ways. Lenticular galaxies might be spiral galaxies that merged with other galaxies, or that have mostly run out of star-forming gas and lost their prominent spiral arms. They also might have started out more like elliptical galaxies, then collected gas into a disk around them.

Some evidence suggests that NGC 2775 merged with other galaxies in the past. Invisible in this Hubble image, NGC 2775 has a tail of hydrogen gas that stretches almost 100,000 light-years around the galaxy. This faint tail could be the remnant of one or more galaxies that wandered too close to NGC 2775 before being stretched apart and absorbed. If NGC 2775 merged with other galaxies in the past, it could explain the galaxy’s strange appearance today.

Most astronomers classify NGC 2775 as a flocculent spiral galaxy. Flocculent spirals have poorly defined, discontinuous arms that are often described as “feathery” or as “tufts” of stars that loosely form spiral arms.

Hubble previously released an image of NGC 2775 in 2020. This new version adds observations of a specific wavelength of red light emitted by clouds of hydrogen gas surrounding massive young stars, visible as bright, pinkish clumps in the image. This additional wavelength of light helps astronomers better define where new stars are forming in the galaxy.

Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, MD

Share Details Last Updated Sep 26, 2025 EditorAndrea GianopoulosLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble News

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Online Activities

Categories: NASA

Smallmouth Bass Evolve to Evade Electric Culling in Adirondack Lake

Scientific American.com - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 7:00am

Scientists electrically culled invasive fish in a 20-year battle—but the fish fought back with rapid evolution

Categories: Astronomy

Asteroid ‘Families’ Reveal Solar System’s Secret History

Scientific American.com - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 6:45am

Many asteroids are related, but their family trees can be hard to trace

Categories: Astronomy

Neuroscience and Art Collide in a Posthumous ‘Composition’ by Alvin Lucier in Revivification

Scientific American.com - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 6:00am

A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.

Categories: Astronomy

ESA shares stage with international partners at IAC 2025

ESO Top News - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 5:00am

The European Space Agency (ESA) is participating in the 76th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which will open its doors on Monday 29 September and last until Friday 3 October in Sydney, Australia. Over 8000 participants from 90 countries are expected to attend the event at the International Convention Centre (ICC) under the theme “Sustainable Space: Resilient Earth”.

Categories: Astronomy

Earth from Space: Northeast Greenland National Park

ESO Top News - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 4:00am
Image: Part of the icy landscape of the Northeast Greenland National Park, the largest national park in the world, is pictured in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image.
Categories: Astronomy

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APOD - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 12:00am

Early risers around planet


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Fri, 09/26/2025 - 12:00am

A study in contrasts,


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

NASA Flights Study Cosmic Ray Effects for Air, Future Space Travelers

NASA - Breaking News - Thu, 09/25/2025 - 5:34pm

4 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Recent airborne science flights to Greenland are improving NASA’s understanding of space weather by measuring radiation exposure to air travelers and validating global radiation maps used in flight path planning. This unique data also has value beyond the Earth as a celestial roadmap for using the same instrumentation to monitor radiation levels for travelers entering Mars’ atmosphere and for upcoming lunar exploration.

NASA’s Space Weather Aviation Radiation (SWXRAD) aircraft flight campaign took place August 25-28 and conducted two five-hour flights in Nuuk, Greenland. Based out of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the mission gathered dosimetry measurements, or the radiation dose level, to air travelers from cosmic radiation. Cosmic radiation is caused by high-energy particles from outer space that originate from our Sun during eruptive events like solar flares and from events farther away, like supernovae in our Milky Way galaxy and beyond.

Science team partners from Honeywell reviewing dosimeter data on board NASA’s B200 King Air during a flight over Nuuk, Greenland. NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

“With NASA spacecraft and astronauts exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond, we support critical research to understand – and ultimately predict – the impacts of space weather across the solar system,” said Jamie Favors, director of NASA’s Space Weather Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Though this project is focused on aviation applications on Earth, NAIRAS could be part of the next generation of tools supporting Artemis missions to the Moon and eventually human missions to Mars.”

Jamie Favors, NASA Space Weather Program director, and Chris Mertens, SWXRAD principal investigator, discussing a dosimeter at NASA’s Langley Research Center as specialized instruments are integrated onto NASA’s B200 King Air aircraft before deploying to Greenland.NASA/Mark Knopp

NASA’s Nowcast of Aerospace Ionizing Radiation System, or NAIRAS, is the modeling system being enhanced by the SWXRAD airborne science flights. The model features real-time global maps of the hazardous radiation in the atmosphere and creates exposure predictions for aircraft and spacecraft.

NASA’s B200 King Air on the runway in Goose Bay, Canada, a stop during the flight to Nuuk, Greenland.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

“The radiation exposure is maximum at the poles and minimum at the equator because of the effect of Earth’s magnetic field. In the polar regions, the magnetic field lines are directed into or out of the Earth, so there’s no deflection or shielding by the fields of the radiation environment that you see everywhere else.” explained Chris Mertens, principal investigator of SWXRAD at NASA Langley. “Greenland is a region where the shielding of cosmic radiation by Earth’s magnetic field is zero.”

That means flight crews and travelers on polar flights from the U.S. to Asia or from the U.S. to Europe are exposed to higher levels of radiation.

Frozen and rocky terrain in the Polar region observed from above Nuuk, Greenland during NASA’s SWXRAD science flights.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

The data gathered in Greenland will be compared to the NAIRAS modeling, which bases its computation on sources around the globe that include neutron monitors and instruments that measure solar wind parameters and the magnetic field along with spaceborne data from instruments like the NOAA GOES series of satellites.

“If the new data doesn’t agree, we have to go back and look at why that is,” said Mertens. “In the radiation environment, one of the biggest uncertainties is the effect of Earth’s magnetic field. So, this mission eliminates that variable in the model and enables us to concentrate on other areas, like characterizing the particles that are coming in from space into the atmosphere, and then the transport and interactions with the atmosphere.”

An aerial view of Nuuk, Greenland.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

The SWXRAD science team flew aboard NASA’s B200 King Air with five researchers and crew members. In the coming months, the team will focus on measurement data quality checks, quantitative modeling comparisons, and a validation study between current NAIRAS data and the new aircraft dosimeter measurements.

All of this information is endeavoring to protect pilots and passengers on Earth from the health risks associated with radiation exposure while using NASA’s existing science capabilities to safely bring astronauts to the Moon and Mars.

Northern Lights, or auroras, seen over the city of Nuuk, Greenland. Auroras are considered space weather and are easily visible effects of activity from the Sun interacting with the magnetosphere and Earth’s atmosphere.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

“Once you get to Mars and even the transit out to Mars, there would be times where we don’t have any data sets to really understand what the environment is out there,” said Favors. “So we’re starting to think about not only how do we get ready for those humans on Mars, but also what data do we need to bring with them? So we’re feeding this data into models exactly like NAIRAS. This model is thinking about Mars in the same way it’s thinking about Earth.”

The SWXRAD flight mission is funded through NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Heliophysics Division. NASA’s Space Weather Program Office is hosted at NASA Langley and facilitates researchers in the creation of new tools to predict space weather and to understand space weather effects on Earth’s infrastructure, technology, and society.

For more information on NASA Heliophysics and NAIRAS modeling visit:

NASA Space Weather

NASA’s Nowcast of Aerospace Ionizing Radiation System

About the AuthorCharles G. HatfieldScience Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center

Share Details Last Updated Sep 25, 2025 ContactCharles G. Hatfieldcharles.g.hatfield@nasa.gov Related Terms Explore More 4 min read NASA Aircraft Coordinate Science Flights to Measure Air Quality

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6 min read NASA Data Powers New Tool to Protect Water Supply After Fires

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1 min read Help Map the Moon’s Molten Flows!

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Categories: NASA

NASA Flights Study Cosmic Ray Effects for Air, Future Space Travelers

NASA News - Thu, 09/25/2025 - 5:34pm

4 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Recent airborne science flights to Greenland are improving NASA’s understanding of space weather by measuring radiation exposure to air travelers and validating global radiation maps used in flight path planning. This unique data also has value beyond the Earth as a celestial roadmap for using the same instrumentation to monitor radiation levels for travelers entering Mars’ atmosphere and for upcoming lunar exploration.

NASA’s Space Weather Aviation Radiation (SWXRAD) aircraft flight campaign took place August 25-28 and conducted two five-hour flights in Nuuk, Greenland. Based out of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the mission gathered dosimetry measurements, or the radiation dose level, to air travelers from cosmic radiation. Cosmic radiation is caused by high-energy particles from outer space that originate from our Sun during eruptive events like solar flares and from events farther away, like supernovae in our Milky Way galaxy and beyond.

Science team partners from Honeywell reviewing dosimeter data on board NASA’s B200 King Air during a flight over Nuuk, Greenland. NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

“With NASA spacecraft and astronauts exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond, we support critical research to understand – and ultimately predict – the impacts of space weather across the solar system,” said Jamie Favors, director of NASA’s Space Weather Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Though this project is focused on aviation applications on Earth, NAIRAS could be part of the next generation of tools supporting Artemis missions to the Moon and eventually human missions to Mars.”

Jamie Favors, NASA Space Weather Program director, and Chris Mertens, SWXRAD principal investigator, discussing a dosimeter at NASA’s Langley Research Center as specialized instruments are integrated onto NASA’s B200 King Air aircraft before deploying to Greenland.NASA/Mark Knopp

NASA’s Nowcast of Aerospace Ionizing Radiation System, or NAIRAS, is the modeling system being enhanced by the SWXRAD airborne science flights. The model features real-time global maps of the hazardous radiation in the atmosphere and creates exposure predictions for aircraft and spacecraft.

NASA’s B200 King Air on the runway in Goose Bay, Canada, a stop during the flight to Nuuk, Greenland.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

“The radiation exposure is maximum at the poles and minimum at the equator because of the effect of Earth’s magnetic field. In the polar regions, the magnetic field lines are directed into or out of the Earth, so there’s no deflection or shielding by the fields of the radiation environment that you see everywhere else.” explained Chris Mertens, principal investigator of SWXRAD at NASA Langley. “Greenland is a region where the shielding of cosmic radiation by Earth’s magnetic field is zero.”

That means flight crews and travelers on polar flights from the U.S. to Asia or from the U.S. to Europe are exposed to higher levels of radiation.

Frozen and rocky terrain in the Polar region observed from above Nuuk, Greenland during NASA’s SWXRAD science flights.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

The data gathered in Greenland will be compared to the NAIRAS modeling, which bases its computation on sources around the globe that include neutron monitors and instruments that measure solar wind parameters and the magnetic field along with spaceborne data from instruments like the NOAA GOES series of satellites.

“If the new data doesn’t agree, we have to go back and look at why that is,” said Mertens. “In the radiation environment, one of the biggest uncertainties is the effect of Earth’s magnetic field. So, this mission eliminates that variable in the model and enables us to concentrate on other areas, like characterizing the particles that are coming in from space into the atmosphere, and then the transport and interactions with the atmosphere.”

An aerial view of Nuuk, Greenland.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

The SWXRAD science team flew aboard NASA’s B200 King Air with five researchers and crew members. In the coming months, the team will focus on measurement data quality checks, quantitative modeling comparisons, and a validation study between current NAIRAS data and the new aircraft dosimeter measurements.

All of this information is endeavoring to protect pilots and passengers on Earth from the health risks associated with radiation exposure while using NASA’s existing science capabilities to safely bring astronauts to the Moon and Mars.

Northern Lights, or auroras, seen over the city of Nuuk, Greenland. Auroras are considered space weather and are easily visible effects of activity from the Sun interacting with the magnetosphere and Earth’s atmosphere.NASA/Guillaume Gronoff

“Once you get to Mars and even the transit out to Mars, there would be times where we don’t have any data sets to really understand what the environment is out there,” said Favors. “So we’re starting to think about not only how do we get ready for those humans on Mars, but also what data do we need to bring with them? So we’re feeding this data into models exactly like NAIRAS. This model is thinking about Mars in the same way it’s thinking about Earth.”

The SWXRAD flight mission is funded through NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Heliophysics Division. NASA’s Space Weather Program Office is hosted at NASA Langley and facilitates researchers in the creation of new tools to predict space weather and to understand space weather effects on Earth’s infrastructure, technology, and society.

For more information on NASA Heliophysics and NAIRAS modeling visit:

NASA Space Weather

NASA’s Nowcast of Aerospace Ionizing Radiation System

About the AuthorCharles G. HatfieldScience Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center

Share Details Last Updated Sep 25, 2025 ContactCharles G. Hatfieldcharles.g.hatfield@nasa.gov Related Terms Explore More 4 min read NASA Aircraft Coordinate Science Flights to Measure Air Quality

Magic is in the air. No wait… MAGEQ is in the air, featuring scientists from…

Article 1 day ago
6 min read NASA Data Powers New Tool to Protect Water Supply After Fires

When wildfires scorch a landscape, the flames are just the beginning. NASA is helping U.S.…

Article 1 day ago
1 min read Help Map the Moon’s Molten Flows!

When asteroids hit the Moon, the impacts carve out craters and with enough energy and…

Article 1 day ago
Categories: NASA

Japan's Akatsuki Venus Orbiter Completes its Mission

Universe Today - Thu, 09/25/2025 - 3:52pm

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) conducted the termination procedure for the Venus Climate Orbiter “Akatsuki” (PLANET-C) starting at 9:00 AM on September 18, 2025 (JST), thereby ending the probe's operations.

Categories: Astronomy

How Do You Build Something On Mars?

Universe Today - Thu, 09/25/2025 - 3:52pm

Let’s say you’ve picked the perfect spot for building a settlement on Mars. But this opens up some pretty nasty questions. Building…what? And building….with what?

Categories: Astronomy