Project News

Herschel Finds Star Past its Prime Possibly Making Planets

Herschel • News Release • January 30th, 2013

A star thought to have passed the age at which it can form planets may, in fact, be creating new worlds. The disk of material surrounding the surprising star called TW Hydrae may be massive enough to make even more planets than we have in our own solar system.

Cool, New Views of Andromeda Galaxy

Herschel • Feature • January 28th, 2013

Two new eye-catching views from the Herschel space observatory are fit for a princess. They show the elegant spiral galaxy Andromeda, named after the mythical Greek princess known for her beauty.

Betelgeuse Star Braces for Crash with Strange Bar

Herschel • Feature • January 22nd, 2013

Orion, the famous hunter presiding over northern winter skies, may experience a stellar crash in its future. The red star at its shoulder, called Betelgeuse, appears to be set to collide with a dusty "wall" in 5,000 years.

Planck Spots Colossal Intergalactic Bridge

Planck • News Release • November 20th, 2012

The Planck space telescope has made the first conclusive detection of a bridge of hot gas connecting a pair of galaxy clusters across 10 million light-years of intergalactic space.

NASA Survey Counts Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • Project News • May 16th, 2012

Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have led to the best assessment yet of our solar system's population of potentially hazardous asteroids. The results reveal new information about their total numbers, origins and the possible dangers they may pose.

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.

Herschel Finds Star Past its Prime Possibly Making Planets

Herschel • January 30th, 2013

A star thought to have passed the age at which it can form planets may, in fact, be creating new worlds. The disk of material surrounding the surprising star called TW Hydrae...

Cool, New Views of Andromeda Galaxy

Herschel • January 28th, 2013

Two new eye-catching views from the Herschel space observatory are fit for a princess. They show the elegant spiral galaxy Andromeda, named after the mythical Greek princess...

Betelgeuse Star Braces for Crash with Strange Bar

Herschel • January 22nd, 2013

Orion, the famous hunter presiding over northern winter skies, may experience a stellar crash in its future. The red star at its shoulder, called Betelgeuse, appears to be set...

Planck Spots Colossal Intergalactic Bridge

Planck • November 20th, 2012

The Planck space telescope has made the first conclusive detection of a bridge of hot gas connecting a pair of galaxy clusters across 10 million light-years of intergalactic space.

NASA Survey Counts Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • May 16th, 2012

Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have led to the best assessment yet of our solar system's population of potentially hazardous asteroids. The...

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.