NASA

Eleven years after the launch of the first H-II Transfer cargo vehicle (HTV) to the International Space Station, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) HTV-9 will depart the orbital laboratory Tuesday, Aug. 18, with live coverage beginning at 1:15 p.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The aging, bright-red supergiant star Betelgeuse has captivated sky watchers since antiquity. The ancient astronomer Ptolemy was one of the first to note the monster star's red color. It is one of the brightest stars in the night sky and appears even more luminous because it is so close to Earth, only 725 light-years away.

But the star also periodically changes in brightness, which was first noted in the 1830s by British astronomer John Herschel. Astronomers now know that the star expands and contracts, brightening and dimming, on a 420-day cycle.

However, in October 2019, the star dimmed dramatically and continued to become even fainter. By mid-February 2020, the monster star had lost more than two-thirds of its brilliance.

This sudden dimming has mystified astronomers, who scrambled to develop several theories for the abrupt change. Ultraviolet observations by the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the unexpected dimming was probably caused by an immense amount of superhot material ejected into space. The material cooled and formed a dust cloud that blocked the starlight coming from about a quarter of Betelgeuse's surface.

Hubble captured signs of dense, heated material moving through the star's atmosphere in September, October, and November 2019. Then, in December, several ground-based telescopes observed the star decreasing in brightness in its southern hemisphere.

The giant star is destined to end its life in a supernova blast. Some astronomers think the sudden dimming may be a pre-supernova event. Betelgeuse resides in Orion, one of the most recognizable constellations in the sky. The mammoth star marks the right shoulder of the hunter.

Keep your eye on the ion tail of Comet NEOWISE.

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The hydrogen in your body, present in every molecule of water, came from the

From Earth, Saturn never shows a crescent phase.

East of Antares,

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As of March 2020, our Mars Odyssey has captured these six views of the Martian moon Phobos.

Messier 20 and 21

Ancient sun daggers will not hurt you, but they may tell you the time. 

If humans could travel to this giant planet, we would see a world still glowing from the heat of its formation with a color reminiscent of a dark cherry blossom, a dull magenta.

Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the

NASA's OSIRIS-REx is ready for touchdown on asteroid Bennu.

Did the Earth part to show us this comet?

How different does sunset appear from Mars than from Earth?

Girl Scouts from across the nation will pose questions next week to NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy aboard the International Space Station.

NASA has selected ASRC Federal Data Solutions (AFDS) Inc. of Beltsville, Maryland, to receive a contract for Ames Consolidated Information Technology Services at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

NASA has awarded the Laboratory Services contract (LSC) to Alutiiq Essentials Services LLC of Kodiak, Alaska, to provide laboratory services at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.