Project News

NASA's WISE Catches Aging Star Erupting With Dust

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • Project News • April 26th, 2012

Images from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) reveal an old star in the throes of a fiery outburst, spraying the cosmos with dust. The findings offer a rare, real-time look at the process by which stars like our sun seed the universe with building blocks for other stars, planets...

WISE All-Sky Image Now Available on "Science on a Sphere"

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • Project News • April 9th, 2012

The WISE all-sky image is now available for projection on "Science on a Sphere" (see http://sos.noaa.gov/ for info). Science On a Sphere is a large visualization system that uses computers and video projectors to display animated data onto the outside of a sphere. Said another way, SOS is an...

NASA Extends Spitzer, Planck, Kepler Missions

Planck • Feature • April 5th, 2012

NASA is extending three missions affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- Kepler, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the U.S. portion of the European Space Agency's Planck mission.

NASA Releases New WISE Mission Catalog of Entire Infrared Sky

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • Project News • March 14th, 2012

NASA unveiled a new atlas and catalog of the entire infrared sky today showing more than a half billion stars, galaxies and other objects captured by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.

All-Sky Images Show Cold Gas and Strange Haze

Planck • News Release • February 13th, 2012

New images from the Planck mission show previously undiscovered islands of star formation and a mysterious haze of microwave emissions in our Milky Way galaxy.

NASA's Kepler Announces 11 Planetary Systems Hosting 26 Planets

Kepler • Project News • January 26th, 2012

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help...

NASA's Kepler Mission Finds Three Smallest Exoplanets

Kepler • Project News • January 11th, 2012

Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler mission have discovered the three smallest planets yet detected orbiting a star beyond our sun. The planets orbit a single star, called KOI-961, and are 0.78, 0.73 and 0.57 times the radius of Earth. The smallest is about the size of Mars.

NASA Discovers First Earth-size Planets Beyond Our Solar System

Kepler • Project News • December 20th, 2011

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system.

Kepler-22b, Super-Earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star

Kepler • Project News • December 5th, 2011

The Kepler team has discovered Kepler-22b, a planet 2.4 times the size of Earth that orbits a sun-like star in 289 days. It the smallest planet yet found to orbit in the middle of its star's habitable zone, which is the region around a star where temperatures are just right for liquid water, a...

Kepler-21b discovery

Kepler • Project News • November 20th, 2011

Kepler Deputy Project Scientist Steve Howell led a research team in discovering that one of the brightest stars in the Kepler star field has a 1.6 Earth-radius planet circling its parent star with a 2.8 day period.

NASA's WISE Catches Aging Star Erupting With Dust

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • April 26th, 2012

Images from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) reveal an old star in the throes of a fiery outburst, spraying the cosmos with dust. The findings offer a rare,...

WISE All-Sky Image Now Available on "Science on a Sphere"

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • April 9th, 2012

The WISE all-sky image is now available for projection on "Science on a Sphere" (see http://sos.noaa.gov/ for info). Science On a Sphere is a large visualization system that...

NASA Extends Spitzer, Planck, Kepler Missions

Planck • April 5th, 2012

NASA is extending three missions affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- Kepler, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the U.S. portion of the European...

NASA Releases New WISE Mission Catalog of Entire Infrared Sky

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • March 14th, 2012

NASA unveiled a new atlas and catalog of the entire infrared sky today showing more than a half billion stars, galaxies and other objects captured by the Wide-field Infrared...

All-Sky Images Show Cold Gas and Strange Haze

Planck • February 13th, 2012

New images from the Planck mission show previously undiscovered islands of star formation and a mysterious haze of microwave emissions in our Milky Way galaxy.

NASA's Kepler Announces 11 Planetary Systems Hosting 26 Planets

Kepler • January 26th, 2012

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number...

NASA's Kepler Mission Finds Three Smallest Exoplanets

Kepler • January 11th, 2012

Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler mission have discovered the three smallest planets yet detected orbiting a star beyond our sun. The planets orbit a single star, called...

NASA Discovers First Earth-size Planets Beyond Our Solar System

Kepler • December 20th, 2011

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system.

Kepler-22b, Super-Earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star

Kepler • December 5th, 2011

The Kepler team has discovered Kepler-22b, a planet 2.4 times the size of Earth that orbits a sun-like star in 289 days. It the smallest planet yet found to orbit in the middle...

Kepler-21b discovery

Kepler • November 20th, 2011

Kepler Deputy Project Scientist Steve Howell led a research team in discovering that one of the brightest stars in the Kepler star field has a 1.6 Earth-radius planet circling...