Science @ NASA
The Science and Technology Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center sponsors the Science@NASA web sites. The mission of Science@NASA is to help the public understand how exciting NASA research is and to help NASA scientists fulfill their outreach responsibilities.
Copyright: no copyright
-
The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th, and forecasters say it should be a good show.
-
NASA Works to Improve Short-term Weather Forecasts[Duration 04:13, 1.7 MB]Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CST
NASA scientists are using an infra-red sounder in space to improve short-term weather forecasting.
-
The sun is entering its 3rd year of eerie calm. Sunspots are rare and solar flares simply aren't happening. Is this "solar minimum" lasting longer than it should? A NASA scientist has examined centuries of sunspot data to find the answer.
-
Mix moondust with epoxy, add a dash of carbon nanotubes, and spin. The result? A parabolic mirror perfectly suited for a lunar observatory. A NASA scientist has discovered this new recipe for making telescopes out of moondust, and to prove it works he has spun a "moondust mirror" here on Earth.
-
Mercury's magnetic field is "alive." Volcanic vents ring the planet's giant Caloris basin while the planet itself is surrounded by a plasma nebula of unexpected complexity.
-
Look beyond the fireworks on 4th of July weekend. A trio of worlds is converging for a pretty sunset sky show.
-
One hundred years after the Tunguska event in Siberia, scientists review what they've learned about the mysterious blast from the heavens.
-
NASA to Attempt Historic Solar Sail Deployment[Duration 05:53, 2.4 MB]Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CST
This summer, NASA engineers will try to realize a dream older than the Space Age itself: the deployment of a working solar sail in Earth orbit. The name of the device is NanoSail-D and it is scheduled for launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket as early as July 29, 2008.
-
In 1967, Surveyor 3 landed on the Moon. Two years later, Apollo astronauts visited the little unmanned spacecraft and brought pieces of it home to Earth. Now, a portion of Surveyor's robotic arm, the scoop it used to sample moondust, is teaching researchers some long-lost secrets.
-
Sometimes you just can't believe your eyes. This week is one of those times. Check out the full Moon on June 18th and prepare to be deceived!
-
NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope left Earth today onboard a Delta II rocket. "The entire GLAST Team is elated," reports program manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "The observatory is now on-orbit and all systems continue to operate as planned."
-
NASA has a daring new mission on the drawing board: Solar Probe Plus, a spacecraft tough enough to visit the sun itself.
-
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a bizarre ring of material around the magnetic remains of a star that blasted itself to smithereens. Although rings and spheres of material are common in the universe, this one is not like any ring astronomers have ever seen before.
-
Imagine a billion-ton cloud of gas launching itself off the surface of the sun and then ... doing a cartwheel. That's exactly what happened on April 9, 2008, when a coronal mass ejection or "CME" pirouetted over the sun's limb in full view of an international fleet of spacecraft.
-
NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars Sunday to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the lander's robotic arm.
-
Gravitationally speaking, the moon is a strange place. Satellites in lunar orbit feel odd, sideways tugs and end up nose down in the moondust. Astronauts standing in the middle of lunar lava seas weigh more than they do standing on the shore. A new NASA mission named GRAIL aims to map the moon's quirky gravity field and thus pave the way for future exploration.
-
In 2005, NASA astronomers began watching the Moon to see how often meteoroids crashed into the lunar surface. They've just video-taped their 100th explosion.
-
At long last, astronomers have found one of the Milky Way's mysteriously missing supernovas.
-
NASA's Phoenix lander is getting ready to touch down on Mars and begin an unprecedented investigation of the Red Planet's arctic realm.
-
Astronauts are using a Star Trek tricorder-like device to keep track of microscopic life forms onboard the International Space Station.
-
A NASA-funded survey set to begin in 2008 could dramatically increase the number of known planets outside our solar system.
-
In September 1859, a solar flare erupted so intense that the explosion itself was visible to the human eye. A ferocious geomagnetic storm ensued in which Northern Lights descended as far south as Cuba, the Bahamas and Hawaii. Meanwhile, telegraph engineers disconnected their batteries and powered communications by electricity from the auroras! Could it happen again?
-
Explore the Ionosphere (from the safety of your own home)[Duration 05:01, 2.0 MB]Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 CST
Today, NASA-funded researchers released to the general public a new "4D" live model of Earth's ionosphere. Without leaving home, anyone can now fly through the layer of ionized gas that encircles Earth at the edge of space itself.
-
An experiment in space has shed new light on the puzzling physics of some everyday substances such as blood, ketchup, motor oil and whipped cream.
-
Going to the Moon? Don't forget your duct tape. Thirty-six years ago when Apollo 17 astronauts found themselves a quarter million miles from home with a damaged moonbuggy, a roll of "good old fashioned American gray tape" saved the day.
-
Earth's Magnetic Field Does Strange Things to the Moon[Duration 05:32, 2.2 MB]Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 CST
NASA-supported researchers have realized that strange things may be happening on the full Moon when it gets hit by Earth's magnetic tail.
-
Unlike Earth, the firmament of the moon is directly exposed to charged particles from the sun. What happens to moondust under the onslaught of solar wind? Researchers in a NASA-supported lab are finding some surprising answers.
-
Contestants in NASA's 15th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race have crossed the finish line. And the winner is.... Read today's story to find out who crashed and who triumphed in the adventurous competition.
-
A crescent moon of perilous beauty is about to appear in the evening sky. The best night to look is Tuesday, April 8th, when the moon joins the Pleiades star cluster for a must-see conjunction.
-
Three months ago, a new solar cycle began. This week, however, the sun surprised onlookers with three big sunspots from the previous solar cycle. Strangely enough, this is perfectly normal.
-
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will play some crafty tricks to find water on the moon, such as using starlight to see into deep, dark craters and checking the temperature with a scientific device known as "Diviner."
-
Two nights ago, astronomers observed a cosmic explosion so intense it was visible to the naked eye from a distance of 7.5 billion light years.
-
For reasons not fully understood by scientists, the weeks around the vernal equinox are prone to Northern Lights.
-
