UFO_DISC

How do planets get their names? With the exception of Earth, the planets in our solar system were named after Greek or Roman gods. Now, the job of naming things in space falls to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features. NASA scientist Dr. Henry Throop explains more.

Tracking a mission’s historic return to Earth, a year of science onboard the space station, and the safe arrival of the station’s newest resident astronaut … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

The ozone layer – the portion of the stratosphere that protects our planet from the Sun’s ultraviolet rays – thins to form an “ozone hole” above the South Pole every September. Chemically active forms of chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere, derived from human-produced compounds, attach to high-altitude polar clouds each southern winter. The reactive chlorine and bromine then initiate ozone-destroying reactions as the Sun rises at the end of Antarctica’s winter. Researchers at NASA and NOAA detect and measure the growth and breakup of the ozone hole with instruments aboard the Aura, Suomi NPP, and NOAA-20 satellites. On Oct. 5, 2022, those satellites observed a single-day maximum ozone hole of 10.2 million square miles (26.4 million square kilometers), slightly larger than last year.

Our first asteroid sample return mission is back on Earth, a record ride in space for a NASA astronaut, and our Artemis II mission is making prelaunch progress … a few of the stories to tell you about