The Path of Artemis IIWhy doesn’t Artemis II land on the Moon? The main reason is that Artemis II is primarily a test mission designed to make a future Artemis missions — which will land humans on the Moon — better prepared. Similarly, NASA’s Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 went right near the Moon as tests before Apollo 11 — which landed. As the…Read More

NGC 3310: A Starburst Spiral GalaxyThe party is still going on in spiral galaxy NGC 3310. Roughly 100 million years ago, NGC 3310 likely collided with a smaller galaxy causing the large spiral galaxy to light up with a tremendous burst of star formation. The changing gravity during the collision created density waves that compressed existing…Read More

Hello WorldFrom pole to pole our fair planet is captured in this snapshot from space, an evocative image from a window of the Orion spacecraft Integrity. From the spacecraft’s perspective the Sun is moving behind Earth’s bright limb along the lower right. Africa and the Iberian peninsula are in view on the pale blue planet’s surface, while aurorae…Read More

Caught in the Web: Visualization of a Black Hole Merger in the Tarantula NebulaHow can we see what is invisible? Black holes are not easy to see in the dark cosmic night, but astronomers can find them by analyzing their gravitational effects on matter, light and spacetime. The featured image shows an illustration that combines a simulation of a…Read More

Liftoff! Returning to the MoonWe are one small step closer to returning to the Moon. A new chapter in human exploration began yesterday when NASA’s Artemis II launched aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) from Kennedy Space Center. Carrying four astronauts, the Orion spacecraft’s planned lunar flyby will be the first in over half a century. This…Read More