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X-ray Clues Reveal Destroyed Planet
In about 5 billion years, our Sun will run out of fuel and expand, possibly engulfing Earth. These end stages of a star’s life can be utterly beautiful – as is the case with this planetary nebula called the Helix Nebula. Astronomers study these objects by looking at all kinds of light. This images show X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (magenta), optical light data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (orange, light blue), infrared data from the European Southern Observatory VISTA telescope (gold, dark blue), and ultraviolet data from GALEX (purple) of the Helix Nebula.
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Turning Vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel
In this February 1944 publicity photo, men stand in front of turning vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory. The AWT was the only wind tunnel capable of testing full-size aircraft engines in simulated altitude conditions. A large wooden drive fan, located on the other side of these vanes, created wind speeds up to 500 miles per hour.
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Making Ripples
A dolphin's dorsal fin cuts through the water in the Launch Complex 39 Area turn basin at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Hubble Sees a Spiral and a Star
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a sparkling spiral galaxy paired with a prominent star, both in the constellation Virgo. While the galaxy and the star appear to be close to one another, even overlapping, they’re actually a great distance apart.
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Hubble Sees a Spiral and a Star
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a sparkling spiral galaxy paired with a prominent star, both in the constellation Virgo. While the galaxy and the star appear to be close to one another, even overlapping, they’re actually a great distance apart.
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Uranus Discovered 244 Years Ago
Uranus was the first planet found with the aid of a telescope. It was discovered on March 13, 1781, by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star. Herschel tried unsuccessfully to name his discovery Georgium Sidus after King George III. Instead, the planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by astronomer Johann Bode.
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NASA’s Dawn Sees Crescent Ceres
NASA's Dawn spacecraft took this image of Ceres' south polar region on May 17, 2017, from an altitude of about 26,400 miles (42,500 kilometers).
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Hubble Captures a Cosmic Cloudscape
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away.
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A Rainbow-colored “Feather” in the Martian Sky
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this feather-shaped iridescent cloud just after sunset on Jan. 27, 2023, the 3,724th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scientists something about particle size within the clouds and how they grow over time. These clouds were captured as part of a follow-on imaging campaign to study noctilucent, or "night-shining" clouds, which started in 2021. This scene made up of 28 individual images captured by the rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam.
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SPHEREx’s Concentric Cones
NASA's SPHEREx observatory is oriented in a horizontal position, revealing all three layers of photon shields as well as the telescope. This photo was taken at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in April 2024.
Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will create a map of the cosmos like no other. Using a technique called spectroscopy to image the entire sky in 102 wavelengths of infrared light, SPHEREx will gather information about the composition of and distance to millions of galaxies and stars. With this map, scientists will study what happened in the first fraction of a second after the big bang, how galaxies formed and evolved, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy.
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Geyser Season on Mars
Springtime in the South Polar region of Mars is a season of exciting activity. The thick coating of carbon dioxide ice that accumulated over the winter begins to sublimate (turn to vapor) as the sun rises higher in the sky and warms the ice. Sunlight penetrates through the transparent ice, and is absorbed at the base of the ice layer. The gas that forms as a result of the warming escapes through weaknesses in the ice and erupts in the form of magnificent geysers of gas and dust.
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Artist’s Concept of Gemini Spacecraft
This is an artist's concept of a two-person Gemini spacecraft in flight, showing a cutaway view. The Gemini program was designed as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs.
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Artist’s Concept of Gemini Spacecraft
This is an artist's concept of a two-person Gemini spacecraft in flight, showing a cutaway view. The Gemini program was designed as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs.
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Hubble Reveals Jupiter in Ultraviolet Light
Released on Nov. 3, 2023, in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the “Great Red Spot.”
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Earth in Far-Ultraviolet
A color enhancement of a far-ultraviolet photo of Earth taken by astronaut John W. Young, commander, with the ultraviolet camera on April 21, 1972. The original black-and-white photo was printed on Agfacontour film three times, each exposure recording only one light level. The three light levels were then colored blue (dimmest), green (next brightest), and red (brightest).
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Turning Vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel
In this February 1944 publicity photo, men stand in front of turning vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory. The AWT was the only wind tunnel capable of testing full-size aircraft engines in simulated altitude conditions. A large wooden drive fan, located on the other side of these vanes, created wind speeds up to 500 miles per hour.
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Norman Rockwell Commemorates Gemini Program with Grissom and Young
Astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom are suited for the first flight of the Gemini program in March 1965. NASA loaned Norman Rockwell a Gemini spacesuit in order to make this painting as accurate as possible.
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Making Ripples
A dolphin's dorsal fin cuts through the water in the Launch Complex 39 Area turn basin at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Making Ripples
A dolphin's dorsal fin cuts through the water in the Launch Complex 39 Area turn basin at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Read More
Uranus Discovered 244 Years Ago
Uranus was the first planet found with the aid of a telescope. It was discovered on March 13, 1781, by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star. Herschel tried unsuccessfully to name his discovery Georgium Sidus after King George III. Instead, the planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by astronomer Johann Bode.
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Sun Rises on Crew-10 at Launch Pad
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Dragon spacecraft on top is seen during sunrise on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, ahead of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch. Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff is targeted for 7:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
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Langley Laboratory Apprentice at Work
An apprentice at Langley Laboratory (now NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia) inspects wind tunnel components in this image from May 15, 1943.
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A Stellar Bouquet
This composite image contains the deepest X-ray image ever made of the spectacular star forming region called 30 Doradus. By combining X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue and green) with optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (yellow) and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (orange), this stellar arrangement comes alive.
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Apollo 14 Moon Landing
An excellent view of the Apollo 14 lunar module on the Moon, as photographed during the first Apollo 14 moonwalk on the lunar surface. The astronauts have already deployed the U.S. flag. While astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander, and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, descended in the lunar module to explore the Moon, astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, remained with the command and service modules in lunar orbit.
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Building an Antenna
A crane lowers the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for the Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) reflector dish into position on Dec. 18, 2024, at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. A multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will boost the DSN's capacity and enhance NASA's deep space communications capabilities for decades to come.
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Hubble Studies the Tarantula Nebula’s Outskirts
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a dusty yet sparkling scene from one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa.
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Hubble Studies the Tarantula Nebula’s Outskirts
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a dusty yet sparkling scene from one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa.
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Suni Williams Conducts Spacewalk
NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 commander Suni Williams is pictured during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station where she replaced a rate gyro assembly that helps maintain the orientation of the orbital outpost.
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Langley’s Propeller Research Tunnel
Chief of aerodynamics Elton W. Miller ponders the future of the Sperry M-1 Messenger, the first full-scale airplane tested in the Propeller Research Tunnel. Miller was one of the designers of the Propeller Research Tunnel.
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Earth in Far-Ultraviolet
A color enhancement of a far-ultraviolet photo of Earth taken by astronaut John W. Young, commander, with the ultraviolet camera on April 21, 1972. The original black-and-white photo was printed on Agfacontour film three times, each exposure recording only one light level. The three light levels were then colored blue (dimmest), green (next brightest), and red (brightest).
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