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Comet Pan-STARRS Update

Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) is making its closest approach to the sun. The comet is getting hit with solar rays about ten times more intense than we experience on Earth. This is causing the comet to brighten as it moves into the skies of the northern hemisphere. Read More

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Comet Pan-Starrs – Visible In Northern Hemisphere In March

Comet PanSTARRS glows with a fanlike tail in this picture from Argentine astrophotographer Ignacio Diaz Bobillo.

Comet Pan-STARRS C/2011 L4, discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala in June 2011, is expected to become visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere in March. The comet is currently visible in the Southern Hemisphere. From about March 7, it will appear above the horizon. To see it, you will need an unobstructed, cloudless view of the western horizon. It is best to pick a dark spot, away from streetlights. Look in the direction of the Sunset just after the Sun has gone down. The comet will be just above the horizon. The twilight sky will…

A Tiny Planet

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star like our sun, approximately 210 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

The artist's concept depicts the new planet dubbed Kepler-37b. The planet is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. Kepler-37b orbits its host star every 13 days at less than one-third the distance Mercury is to the sun. The estimated surface temperature of this smoldering planet, at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit (700 degrees Kelvin), would melt the zinc in a penny.

Astronomers don't think the tiny planet has an atmosphere or could support life as we know it, but the moon-size world is almost certainly rocky in composition.

Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun. The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The…

NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

NASA’s Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used a drill carried at the end of its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into…

A Close Encounter With Asteroid 2012 DA14 – February 15

Small near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to Earth on February 15, so close that it will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites. NASA’s…

This view of layered rocks on the floor of McLaughlin Crater shows sedimentary rocks that contain spectroscopic evidence for minerals formed through interaction with water. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded the image.

A NASA spacecraft is providing new evidence of a wet underground environment on Mars that adds to an increasingly complex picture of the Red Planet’s early evolution. The new information…

Giant sunspot region AR1654 is steadily moving into position to face Earth, loaded with plenty of magnetic energy to create M-class flares — moderate-sized outbursts of solar energy that have…

The House of Representatives has unanimously approved a Senate amendment to H.R. 6586, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo (R-MS) that extends a risk-sharing…

by Dr. Tony Phillips for NASA Science News Just when you thought Christmas was over: At the end of the day on Dec. 25th, a pair of holiday lights will…

Geology professor Qing-zhu Yin holds a fragment of the meteorite that exploded over the Sierra foothills this past spring. (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis photo).

A meteorite that exploded as a fireball over California’s Sierra foothills this past spring was among the fastest, rarest meteorites known to have hit the Earth, and it traveled a…

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity used its left Navigation Camera to record this view of the step down into a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay." Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity this week is driving within a shallow depression called “Yellowknife Bay,” providing information to help researchers choose a rock to drill. Using Curiosity’s percussive drill…

Tau Ceti, one of our closest stars, is a good candidate for hosting an Earth-like planet, astronomers reported on Wednesday. Located a relatively close 12 light years away, the Sun-like…

The final flight plan for NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft ends with an impact at a mountain near the lunar north pole. The impact site is named for America’s first woman in space, Dr. Sally Ride, whose education and public outreach program lead the GRAIL mission’s MoonKAM effort. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/ASU /Sally Ride Science

NASA has named the site where twin agency spacecraft impacted the moon Monday in honor of the late astronaut Sally K. Ride, who was America’s first woman in space and…

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Nearby Star Tau Ceti Is A Good Candidate For Earth-Like Planets
Tau Ceti, one of our closest stars, is a good candidate for hosting an Earth-like planet, astronomers reported on… »
NASA’s GRAIL Spacecraft Lunar Impact Site Named for Astronaut Sally Ride
The final flight plan for NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft ends with an impact at a mountain near the lunar north pole. The impact… »
Astronomy Sky Calendar – December 2012
Sky Watch for December 2012 Mercury– is only 10° high 20 to 30 minutes before sunrise, and even though it… »
The Pleiades (M45) A Winter Sky Delight
The Pleiades (M45) A Winter Sky Delight Shining brightly in the winter sky the Pleiades are a prominent sight in… »
NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity Team To Announce Big Discovery
"This data is gonna be one for the history books," John Grotzinger, the rover mission's principal investigator, told NPR last… »