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The “extremely dangerous” Category 4 Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico this morning, with sustained winds raging at up to 155 mph (250 k/h), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).  As of 8 a.m. ET, the hurricane’s eye was over southeast Puerto Rico and winds had died down to a still-menacing 150 mph […]

OSIRIS clear filter image taken during the flyby of the Rosetta spacecraft at asteroid Lutetia on July 10, 2010. Asteroids are rocky worlds revolving around the sun that are too small to be called planets. They are also known as planetoids or minor planets. There are millions of asteroids, ranging in size from hundreds of […]

A lung tissue experiment returned aboard SpaceX’s CRS-12 cargo capsule this week. Lung-tissue samples grown on the International Space Station, which have just arrived back on Earth, could help researchers understand how space travel affects breathing.  Little is known about how conditions in space affect astronauts’ lungs, according to Joaquin Cortiella, director of the Lab […]

This visible-light image of Hurricane Maria was captured by the GOES East satellite on Wednesday (Sept. 20) at 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT) as the then-Category 4 hurricane swept across Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico Wednesday (Sept. 20), battering the U.S. territory with heavy winds and torrential rainfall. Now that the worst of […]

Astronomers use the huge Arecibo Observatory, a radio telescope in Puerto Rico, to study the close flyby of Earth by asteroids. Credit: Arecibo Observatory/NSF Arecibo Observatory, which is in Puerto Rico, is the location of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope. Because radio telescopes can work at all times of day and in all kinds […]

NEW YORK — “The Farthest” follows NASA’s two Voyager spacecraft through their pioneering exploration of the solar system, and a free screening and panel Thursday evening (Sept. 21) will follow the film itself through its development and explore how it tells the story of those extraordinary probes. The screening begins at 6 p.m. EDT at […]

NOAA GOES-13 satellite imagery of Hurricane Maria on Sept. 21, 2017. Update Sept. 22: Hurricane Maria is currently a massive Category 5 storm as it heads toward the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites have been capturing imagery of Maria since it first began to form  in the Atlantic Ocean. International […]

Updated for Sept. 21: Hurricane Maria  is now a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185km/h) after hitting Puerto Rico, where the iconic Arecibo Observatory was slammed by the storm on the heels of Hurricane Irma. Satellites operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are tracking the massive storm from […]

An image of Halley’s Comet taken in 1986. Halley’s Comet is arguably the most famous comet. It is a “periodic” comet and returns to Earth’s vicinity about every 75 years, making it possible for a human to see it twice in his or her lifetime. The last time it was here was in 1986, and […]

Venus, the second planet from the sun, is named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The planet — the only planet named after a female — may have been named for the most beautiful deity of her pantheon because it shone the brightest of the five planets known to ancient astronomers. In ancient […]

Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstätt and Sean Doran created this color-enhanced view of Jupiter using imagery captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its eighth close flyby of Jupiter, on Sept. 1, 2017. New photos by NASA’s Juno spacecraft capture the solar system’s largest planet in all its complex glory. The four photos — which Juno took […]

Researchers used the Mastcam on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover to gain this detailed view of layers in “Vera Rubin Ridge” from just below the ridge. NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is chugging up a steep red-rock slope that wouldn’t look out of place in the canyon country of the American Southwest. Curiosity began climbing Vera Rubin […]

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has used its HiRISE camera to image Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) in Melas Chasma, Valles Marineris. Arrows point out the tops and bottoms of a few lineae. Are they signatures of seasonal flow of salty water near the surface of Mars? CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A tiny version of Mars on […]