This dance is to the death. As these two large galaxies duel, a cosmic bridge of stars, gas, and dust currently stretches over 75,000 light-years and joins them. The bridge itself is strong evidence that these two immense star systems have passed close to each other and experienced violent tides induced by mutual gravity. As […]

More than 37,000 people registered to attend the NASA Langley open house. Nils Larson, X59 pilot and Astronaut Victor Glover reunited at Langley’s hangar and hosted by Center Director Clayton Turner. via NASA

There goes another one! Volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io keep erupting. To investigate, NASA’s robotic Juno spacecraft has begun a series of visits to this very strange moon. Io is about the size of Earth’s moon, but because of gravitational flexing by Jupiter and other moons, Io’s interior gets heated and its surface has become […]

What does this aurora look like to you? While braving the cold to watch the skies above northern Canada early one morning in 2013, a most unusual aurora appeared. The aurora definitely appeared to be shaped like something, but what? Two ghostly possibilities recorded by the astrophotographer were “witch” and “goddess of dawn”, but please […]

Half way between New Moon and Full Moon is the Moon’s first quarter phase. That’s a quarter of the way around its moonthly orbit. At the first quarter phase, half the Moon’s visible side is illuminated by sunlight. For the Moon’s third quarter phase, half way between Full Moon and New Moon, sunlight illuminates the […]

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, second from right, NASA associate administrator Bob Cabana, far right, and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (back to camera) speak with the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Upon completion of two years of training they could be assigned […]

Galaxies abound in this sharp telescopic image recorded on October 12 in dark skies over June Lake, California. The celestial scene spans nearly 2 degrees within the boundaries of the well-trained northern constellation Canes Venatici. Prominent at the upper left 23.5 million light-years distant is big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 4258, known to some as […]

On October 14, 2023, the Moon aligned with the Sun and Earth to produce an annular solar eclipse. The spectacle bathed millions of Americans in a lunar shadow as the Moon blocked the Sun’s rays. The above image was acquired during the eclipse by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera imager aboard the Deep Space Climate […]

This timelapse series captured on October 14 is set against the sunrise view from Sunset Point, Bryce Canyon, planet Earth. Of course on that date the New Moon caught up with the Sun in the canyon’s morning skies. Local temperatures fell as the Moon’s shadow swept across the high altitude scene and the brilliant morning […]

The Moon passes in front of the Sun during the annular solar eclipse in this photograph taken by Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli aboard the International Space Station. via NASA