CosmicVoyages

A new NASA and Durham University simulation puts forth a different theory of the Moon’s origin – the Moon may have formed in a matter of hours, when material from the Earth and a Mars sized-body were launched directly into orbit after the impact. The simulations used in this research are some of the most detailed of their kind, operating at the highest resolution of any simulation run to study the Moon’s origins or other giant impacts.

The DART mission deployed a kinetic impactor to smack the small moon Dimorphos of the asteroid Didymos on the evening of Sept. 26. This was an on-orbit demonstration of asteroid deflection, a key test of NASA's kinetic impactor technology, designed to impact an asteroid to adjust its speed and path. This particular asteroid moon is NOT a threat to Earth, but is technology being explored to use for when we DO find a potentially hazardous asteroid. The Hubble Space Telescope captured these extraordinary views of the asteroid moon soon after the successful impact.

Paul Smith is a night-sky fanatic and photographer. His obsession is sprites: immense jolts of light that flicker high above thunderstorms. Last October, he guided NASA scientist Dr. Burcu Kosar through the backroads of Oklahoma to catch one herself. Although she’d studied sprites for more than 15 years, she hadn’t yet chased one.

The sun is always changing and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is always watching. Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO keeps a 24-hour eye on the entire disk of the sun, with a prime view of the graceful dance of solar material coursing through the sun's atmosphere, the corona. SDO's sixth year in orbit was no exception. This video shows that entire sixth year--from Jan. 1, 2015 to Jan. 28, 2016 as one time-lapse sequence. At full quality, this video is ultra-high definition 3840x2160 and 59.94 frames per second. Each frame represents 1 hour.

Something strange is occurring with Jupiter's Giant Red Spot storm.

These new maps and spinning globes of Jupiter were made from observations performed with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. They are the first products to come from a program to study the solar system’s outer planets Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and, later, Saturn each year using Hubble. The observations are designed to capture a broad range of features, including winds, clouds, storms and atmospheric chemistry. These annual studies will help current and future scientists see how these giant worlds change over time.