Science News
Showing 1 to 24 of 289.
NASA Awards Company to Attempt Swift Spacecraft Orbit Boost
2025.09.24
Driving rapid innovation in the American space industry, NASA has awarded Katalyst Space Technologies of Flagstaff, Arizona, a contract to raise a spacecraft’s orbit. Katalyst’s robotic servicing spacecraft will rendezvous with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and raise it to a higher altitude, demonstrating a key capability for the future of space exploration and extending […]
NASA Explores Industry Possibilities to Raise Swift Mission’s Orbit
2025.08.11
To drive the development of key space-based capabilities for the United States, NASA is exploring an opportunity to demonstrate technology to raise a spacecraft’s orbit to a higher altitude. Two American companies – Cambrian Works of Reston, Virginia, and Katalyst Space Technologies of Flagstaff, Arizona – will develop concept design studies for a possible orbit […]
3 Black Holes Caught Eating Massive Stars in NASA Data
2025.06.04
Black holes are invisible to us unless they interact with something else. Some continuously eat gas and dust, and appear to glow brightly over time as matter falls in. But other black holes secretly lie in wait for years until a star comes close enough to snack on. A new study using space and ground-based […]
Astronomers Catch Unprecedented Features at Brink of Active Black Hole
2025.01.13
International teams of astronomers monitoring a supermassive black hole in the heart of a distant galaxy have detected features never seen before using data from NASA missions and other facilities.
NASA’s Swift Reaches 20th Anniversary in Improved Pointing Mode
2024.11.20
After two decades in space, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever thanks to a new operational strategy implemented earlier this year. The spacecraft has made great scientific strides in the years since scientists dreamed up a new way to explore gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe. “The idea […]
NASA’s Swift Studies Gas-Churning Monster Black Holes
2024.11.13
Scientists using observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory have discovered, for the first time, the signal from a pair of monster black holes disrupting a cloud of gas in the center of a galaxy. “It’s a very weird event, called AT 2021hdr, that keeps recurring every few months,” said Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at […]
NASA’s Mini BurstCube Mission Detects Mega Blast
2024.09.03
The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months.
Tyler Parsotan Takes a Long Look at the Transient Universe with NASA’s Swift
2024.08.20
Through a nonlinear path to success, research astrophysicist Tyler Parsotan discovers transformational science using Swift’s observations. Name: Tyler ParsotanFormal Job Classification: Research astrophysicistOrganization: Astroparticle Physics Laboratory (Code 661), Astrophysics Science Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I help operate the Burst Alert […]
Primary Instrument for Roman Space Telescope Arrives at NASA Goddard
2024.08.13
The primary instrument for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a sophisticated camera that will survey the cosmos from the outskirts of our solar system all the way out to the edge of the observable universe. Called the Wide Field Instrument, it was recently delivered to the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, […]
Regina Caputo Charts the Future of High-Energy Astrophysics
2024.08.09
Research astrophysicist Regina Caputo puzzles out how the universe works by studying the most extreme events in the cosmos. Name: Regina CaputoTitle: Research Astrophysicist Organization: Astroparticle Physics Laboratory (Code 661) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I’m a research astrophysicist in the particle astrophysics lab at Goddard. […]
Bindu Rani Explores Black Holes, Mothers Hard, Balances Life
2024.08.06
Bindu Rani had childhood dreams of flight. Today she lifts her gaze even higher, helping researchers study stars, planets beyond our solar system, and black holes billions of times more massive than our Sun. Name: Bindu RaniTitle: Astrophysicist, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Guest Investigator Program Lead ScientistOrganization: Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, Science Directorate (Code 661) What […]
NASA’s Fermi Finds New Feature in Brightest Gamma-Ray Burst Yet Seen Summary
2024.07.25
In October 2022, astronomers were stunned by what was quickly dubbed the BOAT — the brightest-of-all-time gamma-ray burst (GRB). Now an international science team reports that data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals a feature never seen before.
New NASA Black Hole Visualization Takes Viewers Beyond the Brink
2024.05.06
Ever wonder what happens when you fall into a black hole? Now, thanks to a new, immersive visualization produced on a NASA supercomputer, viewers can plunge into the event horizon, a black hole’s point of no return. “People often ask about this, and simulating these difficult-to-imagine processes helps me connect the mathematics of relativity to […]
Explore the Universe with the First E-Book from NASA’s Fermi
2024.04.23
To commemorate a milestone anniversary for NASA’s Fermi spacecraft, the mission team has published an e-book called “Our High-Energy Universe: 15 Years with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.”
NASA’s Fermi Mission Sees No Gamma Rays from Nearby Supernova
2024.04.16
A nearby supernova in 2023 offered astrophysicists an excellent opportunity to test ideas about how these types of explosions boost particles, called cosmic rays, to near light-speed. But surprisingly, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected none of the high-energy gamma-ray light those particles should produce. On May 18, 2023, a supernova erupted in the nearby […]
NASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts
2024.03.22
NASA’s BurstCube, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to study the universe’s most powerful explosions, is on its way to the International Space Station.
NASA Invites Media to 61st Annual Goddard Space Science Symposium
2024.03.14
Media are invited to attend the 61st annual Goddard Space Science Symposium (formerly the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium), which will take place March 20-22, 2024, at the Brendan Iribe Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The symposium will also be streamed online.
NASA’s Fermi Detects Surprise Gamma-Ray Feature Beyond Our Galaxy
2024.01.11
Astronomers analyzing 13 years of data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have found an unexpected and as yet unexplained feature outside of our galaxy.
NASA’s Fermi Mission Creates 14-Year Time-Lapse of the Gamma-Ray Sky
2023.12.20
The cosmos comes alive in an all-sky time-lapse movie made from 14 years of data acquired by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Our Sun, occasionally flaring into prominence, serenely traces a path through the sky against the backdrop of high-energy sources within our galaxy and beyond. “The bright, steady gamma-ray glow of the Milky Way […]
NASA’s BurstCube Passes Milestones on Journey to Launch
2023.12.18
Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have completed testing for BurstCube, a shoebox-sized spacecraft designed to study the universe’s most powerful explosions.
NASA’s Fermi Mission Nets 300 Gamma-Ray Pulsars … and Counting
2023.11.28
A new catalog produced by a French-led international team of astronomers shows that NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered 294 gamma-ray-emitting pulsars, while another 34 suspects await confirmation. This is 27 times the number known before the mission launched in 2008. “Pulsars touch on a wide range of astrophysics research, from cosmic rays and […]
NASA’s Swift Learns a New Trick, Spots a Snacking Black Hole
2023.09.07
Using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, scientists have discovered a black hole in a distant galaxy repeatedly nibbling on a Sun-like star.
NASA Software Catalog Offers Free Programs for Earth Science, More
2023.08.09
Each year, NASA scientists, engineers, and developers create software packages to manage space missions, test spacecraft, and analyze the petabytes of data produced by agency research satellites. As the agency innovates for the benefit of humanity, many of these programs are now downloadable and free of charge through NASA’s Software Catalog.
NASA’s ComPair Balloon Mission Readies for Flight
2023.08.07
A team in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, is preparing to fly a balloon-borne science instrument called ComPair, which will test new technologies for detecting gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light.
Showing 1 to 24 of 289.