https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from NASA This shimmering region of star-formation, a close-up of the Trifid Nebula about 5,000 light-years from Earth, was captured in intricate detail by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The colors in Hubble's visible light image, which marks the 36th anniversary of the mission's launch on April 24, are reminiscent of an underwater scene filled with fine-grained sediments fluttering through the ocean's depths. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hubble-dazzles-young-stars-trifid.html Astronomy Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:03 EDT news695911647 On April 17, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California sent commands to shut down an instrument aboard Voyager 1 called the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP. The nuclear-powered spacecraft is running low on power, and turning off the LECP is considered the best way to keep humanity's first interstellar explorer going. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-nasa-instrument-voyager-spacecraft.html Space Exploration Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:00:10 EDT news695901181 Our planet rests inside a magnetic cocoon filled with plasma—but it's not always peaceful and quiet. Activity from the sun can send waves through this space, and some of those disturbances can even reach Earth, affecting our power grid. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-volunteers-rare-space-weather-events.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:20:01 EDT news695645895 NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission has mapped interstellar ice at an unprecedented scale. Covering regions in our Milky Way galaxy more than 600 light-years across, the ice was found inside giant molecular clouds—vast regions of gas and dust where dense clumps of matter collapse under gravity, giving birth to stars. A study describing these findings was published Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-interstellar-glaciers-nasa-spherex-vast.html Astronomy Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:20:04 EDT news695485741 Scientists have found that young stellar cousins of our sun are calming down and dimming more quickly in their X-ray output than previously thought, according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. A paper describing the results is published in The Astrophysical Journal. Unlike in the new movie "Project Hail Mary," this quieting of young stars is a benefit for the prospects for life on orbiting planets around these stars, not a threat. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-young-stars-dim-quickly-ray.html Astrobiology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:20:01 EDT news695398382 Planets, like those in our solar system, form in a bottom-up process where small bits of rock and ice clump together and grow larger over time. But the heftier the planet, the harder it is to explain its formation that way. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-webb-redefines-line-planets-stars.html Astronomy Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:40:06 EDT news695390761 The acquisition of the radio frequency signal from the Artemis II crewed mission to the moon by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) is indicated by the peak in the data signal shown on the top computer screen. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-space-network-artemis-ii.html Space Exploration Fri, 10 Apr 2026 09:20:09 EDT news695030702 Twin control rooms at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are actively supporting real-time mission operations in lunar orbit as part of the agency's Artemis II mission, helping ensure astronaut safety and mission success as the crew prepares to return to Earth Friday, April 10. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-twin-nasa-rooms-artemis-safety.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:07 EDT news694948981 Leo is a prominent sight for stargazers in April. Its famous sickle, punctuated by the bright star Regulus, draws many a beginning stargazer's eyes, inviting deeper looks into some of Leo's celestial delights, including a great double star and a famous galactic trio. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-celestial-leo.html Astronomy Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:20:04 EDT news694858621 Take a tour through volcanic history on the edge of the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes, California. Between the tall granite peaks to the west and the Basin and Range province to the east, overlapping volcanic complexes imprint the landscape with a collection of craters, cones, and calderas. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-volcanic-medley-mammoth-lakes.html Earth Sciences Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:50:01 EDT news694856702 Florida is among the wettest U.S. states, but that doesn't mean it is drought-free. Nearly all of Florida faced at least "moderate" drought, and nearly 80% faced "extreme" conditions in April 2026, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Unusually dry conditions gripped the state for much of 2025, but the intensity and extent of the drought ratcheted up starting in January 2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-drought-parches-florida.html Environment Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:30:01 EDT news694773843 This image captured by U.S.-Indian Earth satellite NISAR on Nov. 10, 2025, shows Washington's Mount St. Helens. The image is cropped from a much larger swath spanning the Pacific Northwest on a cloudy day; NISAR's L-band SAR instrument is able to peer through the clouds at the surface below. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-image-nisar-views-mount-st.html Planetary Sciences Sun, 05 Apr 2026 09:30:03 EDT news694089505 NASA is joining international partners to hunt for ice on the moon in support of future human exploration. The agency is providing a water-detecting instrument, the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS), to the Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization). https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nasa-tool-scout-moon-south.html Space Exploration Sat, 04 Apr 2026 08:00:02 EDT news694089620 Communities worldwide rely on reservoirs for drinking water, hydroelectric power, irrigation, and more. These critical freshwater resources are affected by seasonal and long-term changes; water levels in reservoirs can dip during hot summer months or due to prolonged drought, or can flood after a particularly strong storm. Despite their importance, there are key gaps in our knowledge of reservoir structure and dynamics. Two recent papers published in Scientific Data use Landsat data to help fill in those gaps. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-reservoirs-landsat-reveal-loss-gain.html Earth Sciences Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:40:03 EDT news694185242 This image captured by U.S.-Indian Earth satellite NISAR on Nov. 10, 2025, shows Washington's Mount Rainier. The image is cropped from a much larger swath spanning the Pacific Northwest on a cloudy day; NISAR's L-band SAR instrument is able to peer through the clouds at the surface below. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-image-nisar-view-mount-rainier.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 30 Mar 2026 19:20:06 EDT news694089514 For the second consecutive year, winter sea ice in the Arctic reached a level that matches the lowest peak observed since satellite monitoring began in 1979. On March 15, Arctic sea ice extent reached 5.52 million square miles (14.29 million square kilometers), very close to the 2025 peak of 5.53 million square miles (14.31 million square kilometers). Scientists with NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, note that the two years are statistically tied. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-arctic-winter-sea-ice-year-1.html Earth Sciences Thu, 26 Mar 2026 16:50:01 EDT news693762361 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope have teamed up to capture new views of Saturn, revealing the planet in strikingly different ways. Observing in complementary wavelengths of light, the two space observatories provide scientists with a richer, more layered understanding of the gas giant's atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-webb-hubble-comprehensive-view-saturn.html Astronomy Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:20:03 EDT news693674762 For the first time, astronomers have directly measured the speed of superheated gas billowing from a cauldron of stellar activity at the heart of M82, a nearby galaxy undergoing an extraordinary burst of star formation. The material is moving more than 2 million miles (over 3 million kilometers) per hour and appears to be the primary force driving a cooler, well-studied, galaxy-scale wind. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-xrism-clocks-hot-galaxy-m82.html Astronomy Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:10:02 EDT news693672722 NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission has taken a new observation of a supernova, RCW 86, helping fill in a fuller picture of what other telescopes have observed. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nasa-ray-mission-fresh-year.html Astronomy Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:50:01 EDT news693657601 A new data visualization illustrates how an experimental NASA technology can provide extra lead time to communities in the path of a tsunami. Called GUARDIAN (GNSS Upper Atmospheric Real-time Disaster Information and Alert Network), the software detects slight distortions in satellite navigation signals to spot hazards on the move. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nasa-experimental-technology-tsunami.html Earth Sciences Mon, 23 Mar 2026 22:40:01 EDT news693501538 This March 16, 2026, image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope takes a closer look at the core of Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-image-nasa-hubble-webb-telescopes.html Astronomy Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:40:04 EDT news693501598 In a happy twist of fate, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope witnessed a comet in the act of breaking apart. The chance of that happening while Hubble watched is extraordinarily minuscule. The findings are published in the journal Icarus. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nasa-hubble-unexpectedly-comet.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EDT news693057181 Cancer the Crab is a dim constellation, yet it contains one of the most beautiful and easy-to-spot star clusters in our sky: the Beehive Cluster. Cancer also possesses one of the most studied exoplanets: the superhot super-Earth, 55 Cancri e. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dim-cancer-constellation.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Mar 2026 11:40:01 EDT news693052535 NASA's X-59 experimental aircraft is preparing for its second flight, a step that will set the pace for more flight testing in 2026. Over the coming months, NASA will take the quiet supersonic jet faster and higher, while validating safety and performance, a process known as envelope expansion. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-nasa-flight.html Automotive Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:50:05 EDT news693046007 As four astronauts travel around the moon on NASA's Artemis II mission, they will venture beyond Earth's protective magnetic field. The crew's spacecraft, Orion, will carry and protect them as they journey into deep space and serves as the main protection against the sun's intense power. During their 10-day flight, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will monitor the sun around the clock and translate space weather conditions into real-time decisions to protect the astronauts. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-artemis-ii-astronauts-nasa-experts.html Space Exploration Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:20:07 EDT news692895575 Patches of the sun's surface often show strong magnetic fields. These fields can emerge within a matter of hours, and can decay slowly or quickly, sometimes over days, weeks, or even months. Thanks to a new study about these long-lived active regions, we now know much more about the patches where these strong magnetic fields take at least a month to decay. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-volunteers-oddly-high-solar-flare.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Mar 2026 07:45:32 EDT news692865844 The Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project (LBFD) is part of NASA's effort to help enable new aircraft noise standards that are required to open the market to commercial supersonic flight over land. The federal government banned all civilian supersonic flights over land more than 50 years ago due to sonic boom noise. If new standards are established, the U.S. aviation industry can position itself to lead the commercial supersonic market, and passengers will benefit from significantly shorter travel times. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-boom-flight.html Automotive Fri, 13 Mar 2026 19:30:03 EDT news692613558 Two powerful instruments of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope joined forces to create this scenic galaxy view. This spiral galaxy is named NGC 5134, and it is located 65 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Though 65 million light-years may seem like a huge distance—the light that Webb collected to create this image has been journeying to us from NGC 5134 since soon after Tyrannosaurus rex went extinct—NGC 5134 is fairly close by as far as galaxies go. Because of the galaxy's relative proximity, Webb can spot incredible details in its tightly wound spiral arms. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-webb-nearby-spiral-galaxy-ngc.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:40:05 EDT news692547737 With the first images from the spacecraft now in hand, the team behind NASA's Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, is ready to begin charting the energetic lives of the galaxy's most common stars to help answer one of humanity's most profound questions: Which distant worlds beyond our solar system might be habitable? https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nasa-tiny-spacecraft-exoplanet-images.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:02:08 EDT news692542793 Winter winds lofted clouds of dust from the Sahara Desert, carrying it north toward the Mediterranean and dispersing it widely across Europe in March 2026. When the dust combined with moisture-laden weather systems, a dirty rain fell in parts of Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-saharan-swept-europe-triggering-dirty.html Environment Thu, 12 Mar 2026 10:30:01 EDT news692528296