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Published 17d agoEvent Aug 12

A Sunflower’s View of Totality

These events enable scientists to measure how Earth's atmosphere reacts to sudden darkness. They also provide a rare opportunity to observe the Sun's outer atmosphere that is normally hidden by sunlight.

A total solar eclipse occurred on August 12, 2026, with the path of totality passing over Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain
NASA science teams in Iceland chased the Moon's shadow in a WB-57 jet to image the solar corona in visible and infrared light
The NASA-supported Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project launched scientific balloons to measure atmospheric changes during the eclipse
The next total solar eclipse will occur on August 2, 2027, crossing southern Spain, North Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen

Scientific ObservationVera C. Rubin Observatory

Published 24d ago

APOD: 2026 August 7 – Rubin’s Cosmos Field

This region allows scientists an unimpeded view of distant galaxies because it contains few bright local stars. Frequent revisits will create a dynamic record of how the sky changes over time.

The image central panel captures over 500,000 galaxies in the COSMOS field.
The COSMOS field was first observed by Hubble and has also been observed by Webb.
Rubin will observe the COSMOS field every couple of days during its ten-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

Scientific ObservationJames Webb Space Telescope

Published 27d ago

APOD: August 4, 2026 – Curious Cometary Knots in the Helix Nebula

Because the nebula formed from a Sun-like star, studying it helps researchers understand the eventual fate of our own solar system.

Captured high-resolution infrared details of cometary knots in the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293).
Cometary knots have masses comparable to Earth but extend several times the size of Pluto's orbit.
Observations support hypotheses involving stellar winds from the central star driving out existing gas.

Scientific ObservationHubble Space Telescope

Published 38d ago

Hubble Spies One-Sided Spiral - NASA Science

Understanding how gas moves and collapses to form stars helps astronomers determine how galaxies evolve over time.

NGC 4654 is located 72 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo
The galaxy exhibits an asymmetric shape with a long tail of gas from ram pressure stripping
A gravitational fly-by interaction with NGC 4639 around 500 million years ago contributed to its lopsided structure
Despite ram pressure, NGC 4654 continues forming nearly two Suns' worth of stars annually