NASA
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February’s Night Sky Notes: How Can You Help Curb Light Pollution?
Light pollution has long troubled astronomers, who generally shy away from deep sky observing under full Moon skies. The natural light from a bright Moon floods the sky and hides views of the Milky Way, dim galaxies and nebula, and shooting stars. In recent years, human-made light pollution has dramatically surpassed the interference of even a bright full Moon, and…
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Golden Moon over the Superdome
The full moon rises over the Superdome and the city of New Orleans, Louisiana on Monday evening, January 13, 2025. New Orleans is home to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility where several pieces of hardware for the SLS (Space Launch system) are being built. For more than half a century, NASA Michoud has been “America’s Rocket Factory,” the nation’s premiere site for manufacturing…
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Hubble Goes Supernova Hunting
Download this image A supernova and its host galaxy are the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy in question is LEDA 132905 in the constellation Sculptor. Even at more than 400 million light-years away, LEDA 132905’s spiral structure is faintly visible, as are patches of bright blue stars. The bright pinkish-white dot in the center of the image,…
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NASA Explores Earth Science with New Navigational System
NASA and its partners recently tested an aircraft guidance system that could help planes maintain a precise course even while flying at high speeds up to 500 mph. The instrument is Soxnav, the culmination of more than 30 years of development of aircraft navigation systems. NASA’s G-IV aircraft flew its first mission to test this navigational system from NASA’s Armstrong…
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Sols 4445–4446: Cloudy Days are Here
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025 Overnight before planning today, Mars reached a solar longitude of 40 degrees. The solar longitude is how we like to measure where we are in a Mars year. Each year starts at 0 degrees and advances to 360 degrees at the end of the year. For those of us on the Environmental Science…
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NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2024 Annual Report
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), an advisory committee that reports to NASA and Congress, issued its 2024 annual report Thursday examining the agency’s safety performance, accomplishments, and challenges during the past year. The report highlights 2024 activities and observations on NASA’s work, including: strategic vision and agency governance Moon to Mars management future of U.S. presence in low Earth orbit health…
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What You Need To Know About the March 2025 Total Lunar Eclipse
The Moon will pass into Earth’s shadow and appear to turn red on the night of March 13 or early in the morning of March 14, depending on time zone. Here’s what you need to know about the total lunar eclipse. The March 2025 total lunar eclipse will take place between late night on March 13 and early morning on…
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Robot Gets a Grip
Blue tentacle-like arms attached to an Astrobee free-flying robot grab onto a “capture cube” in this image from Feb. 4, 2025. The experimental grippers demonstrated autonomous detection and capture techniques that may be used to remove space debris and service satellites in low Earth orbit. The Astrobee system was designed and built at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley for use…
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NASA CubeSat Finds New Radiation Belts After May 2024 Solar Storm
Key Points The May 2024 solar storm created two new temporary belts of high-energy particles surrounding Earth. Such belts have been seen before, but the new ones were particularly long lasting, especially the new proton belt. The findings are particularly important for spacecraft launching into geostationary orbits, which can be damaged as they traverse the dangerous belts. The largest solar…
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NASA’s Ethics Program
NASA’s Ethics Program provides training and counsel to NASA employees and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the agency-wide ethics program. Headquarters and Center Chief Counsels ethics officials support the ethics program in their respective localities. A list of ethics officials at each NASA location can be found here: Headquarters and Center Ethics Officials. Associate General Counsel, General Law Practice…
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