保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
Space is hard, the saying goes, and conducting science in space presents challenges of its own. Few researchers have had to overcome hurricanes and earthquakes, though, just two of the hurdles a team of chemists in Puerto Rico faced getting their investigation to the International Space Station. In this image, Camila Morales-Navas, a chemistry Ph.D. student,...
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with the company’s Cygnus spacecraft aboard, launches at 9:16 p.m. EDT, Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 14th contracted cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station is carrying nearly ...
This stunning image by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spiral galaxy NGC 5643 in the constellation of Lupus (the Wolf). Looking this good isn’t easy; 30 different exposures, for a total of nine hours of observation time, together with the high resolution and clarity of Hubble, were needed to produce an image of such high level of detail and ...
Our Aqua satellite captured this composite visible (left) and infrared (right) image on Sep. 29, 2020, which shows that fires and smoke continue to dominate the landscape of the western U.S. The visible image shows the smoke and the infrared image shows the heat from the fires (orange points). The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fi...
When Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, the crew brought devices with them called retroreflectors, which are essentially small arrays of mirrors. The plan was for scientists on Earth to aim lasers at them and calculate the time it took for the beams to return. This provided exceptionally precise measurements of the Moon’s orbit and shape, including how it c...
Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor examines her eye with a fundoscope aboard the International Space Station with remote support from doctors on the ground. As a member of the Expedition 56/57 crew in 2018, she participated in many onboard experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the station Dr. Auñón-Chancellor was sel...
Pictured is the Soyuz MS-16 crew ship, currently docked to the International Space Station’s Poisk module. The is the same spacecraft that launched, and will bring home, Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy, Soyuz Commander Anatoly Ivanishin, and cosmonaut Ivan Vagner. Expedition 63 will depart the station and land in Kazakhstan on Oct. 21, 2020. Imag...
This image from 1991 shows Earth’s Moon, with its dark basaltic mare, clearly visible in great detail. Our Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite, unlike several other planets in our solar system. For example, gas giant Jupiter has more than 70 known moons. Learn more about the Moon and participate in International Observe the Moon Night. #Observ...
Humanity has “eyes” that can detect all different types of light through telescopes around the globe and a fleet of observatories in space. From radio waves to gamma rays, this “multiwavelength” approach to astronomy is crucial to getting a complete understanding of objects in space. This image is of galaxy cluster Abell 2744. Galaxy ...
Cyclones at the north pole of Jupiter appear as swirls of striking colors in this extreme false color rendering of an image from NASA’s Juno mission. The huge, persistent cyclone found at Jupiter’s north pole is visible at the center of the image, encircled by smaller cyclones that range in size from 2,500 to 2,900 miles (4,000 to 4,600 kilometers). Together...