Browse Archive

  • NCLs as seen from 35,000 feet over Canada on June 13, 2012.

    2012 Noctilucent Cloud Season Begins

    They're Baaaack! The first noctilucent clouds for the 2012 season have been spotted.

  • Left: An image of a magnetic loop complex as captured on July 22, 2011 by SDO. Right: This is the same area as captured by the NST.

    Spotting Ultrafine Loops in the Sun's Corona

    Scientists have for the first time observed especially narrow loops of solar material scattered on the sun's surface. These ultrafine loops may help with determining how temperatures rise throughout the corona.

  • artist concept of reconnecting magnetic field lines on the sun

    Fermi Detects Solar Flare's Highest-Energy Light

    During a powerful solar blast on March 7, the Fermi telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on our sun.

  • An instrument deck for NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission is readied for installation of instruments.

    Instrument Integration Begins on MMS Spacecraft

    Engineers have started integrating instruments on the first of four instrument decks in a newly fabricated cleanroom at Goddard.

  • The arc of Venus as seen by NASA's TRACE spacecraft in 2004.

    The Mysterious Arc of Venus

    Astronomers hope to glimpse a "ring of fire" around Venus during its historic transit across the sun on June 5-6. The apparition, if it is seen, could help crack some of the deepest mysteries of the second planet.

  • Artist rendition of RHESSI spacecraft in orbit.

    RHESSI Uses Venus Transit to Improve Measurements of the Sun's Diameter

    During the Venus Transit on June 5-6, 2012, the RHESSI science team hopes to improve the accuracy of their measurements of the diameter of the sun, to provide the best measurement ever obtained.

  • Left, astronaut Don Pettit. Right, Captain James Cook. Center top, graphic of Venus transit path across the Sun.

    ISS Transit of Venus

    Astronaut Don Pettit will photograph the June 5, 2012 Transit of Venus from the ISS. He and the Expedition 31 crew will be the first people in history to see a Venus transit from space.

  • TRACE image of Venus (black dot) during 2004 transit.

    SDO to Observe Venus Transit

    NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will be watching the June 5, 2012 Venus Transit to help calibrate its instruments as well as to learn more about Venus's atmosphere.

  • An artist's concept of the shower of particles produced when Earth's atmosphere is struck by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

    Solar Particles Infiltrating the Atmosphere

    An M-class flare on May 17, 2012 shot out a burst of solar particles traveling at nearly the speed of light. When they collided with atoms in Earth's atmosphere they caused a ground level enhancement.

  • View of moon transiting Sun from STEREO-B spacecraft

    Electric Moon Jolts the Solar Wind

    Spacecraft and computer simulations reveal the moon's extensive but invisible influence.