Shining a Light on Dark Matter
Dark matter, although invisible, makes up most of the universe’s mass and creates its underlying structure. Dark matter’s gravity drives normal matter (gas and dust) to collect and build up into stars…
The Black Marble: Our Planet in Brilliant Darkness
In the years since the 2011 launch of the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, a research team at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center has been analyzing night-lights data and developing…
The Gulf Stream in Infrared
Stretching from tropical Florida to the doorstep of Europe, the Gulf Stream carries a lot of heat, salt and history. This river of water is an important part of the global…
NASA’s Webb Telescope to Unravel Riddles of a Stellar Nursery
A bustling stellar nursery in the picturesque Orion Nebula will be a subject of study for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2021. A team led by Mark McCaughrean,…
Nine Reasons We’re Grateful to Live on Earth
Earth can sometimes feel like the last place you’d want to be. Indeed, a number of explorers have devised inventive ways to move civilization off this planet. It’s no surprise:…