NASA News

April 30, 2025

Top Headlines

A Vast Molecular Cloud, Long Invisible, Is Discovered Near Solar System

Apr. 28, 2025 — Astrophysicists have discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the sun and Earth ever to be detected. The scientists have named the molecular hydrogen cloud 'Eos,' ...

New Research Shatters Long-Held Beliefs About Asteroid Vesta

Apr. 28, 2025 — For decades, scientists believed Vesta, one of the largest objects in our solar system's asteroid belt, wasn't just an asteroid and eventually concluded it was more like a planet with a crust, mantle and core. Now, new research flips this notion on ...

Volcanic History and Clues to Ancient Life on Mars

Apr. 18, 2025 — Researchers use the sophisticated technology on NASA's Perseverance rover to analyze volcanic rocks in Mars' Jezero Crater. Their findings show that some of the same volcanic processes that led to life on Earth happened long ago on Mars, a stunning ...

Innovative Approaches Advance Search for Ice on the Moon

Apr. 23, 2025 — Scientists and space explorers have been on the hunt to determine where and how much ice is present on the Moon. Water ice would be an important resource at a future lunar base, as it could be used to support humans or be broken down to hydrogen and ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:17pm EDT

Astronomers Discover a Planet That's Rapidly Disintegrating, Producing a Comet-Like Tail

Apr. 22, 2025 — A planet 140 light-years from Earth is rapidly coming apart due to its close proximity to its star. The roasting planet is effectively evaporating ...

Did It Rain or Snow on Ancient Mars? New Study Suggests It Did

Apr. 21, 2025 — Geologists weigh in on a long-running debate about Mars: Billions of years ago, was the Red Planet warm and wet or cold and ...

Turning Down Starlight to Spot New Exoplanets

Apr. 18, 2025 — Researchers have developed a new coronagraph that could make it possible to see distant exoplanets obscured by light from their parent ...

Curiosity Rover Finds Large Carbon Deposits on Mars

Apr. 17, 2025 — Research from NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient ...

Strongest Hints Yet of Biological Activity Outside the Solar System

Apr. 16, 2025 — Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain ...

Crystal Clues on Mars Point to Watery and Possibly Life-Supporting Past

Apr. 16, 2025 — A new study analyzing data from NASA's Perseverance rover has uncovered compelling evidence of multiple mineral-forming events just beneath the Martian surface -- findings that bring scientists one ...

On Jupiter, It's Mushballs All the Way Down

Apr. 15, 2025 — Observations of Jupiter show that ammonia is unevenly distributed in the upper atmosphere, against expectations of uniform mixing. Scientists found evidence for a complicated but apparently real ...

Molten Martian Core Could Explain Red Planet's Magnetic Quirks

Apr. 15, 2025 — First ever supercomputer simulations of Mars with a fully molten core could explain the Red Planet's unusual magnetic field. Billions of years ago, Mars had an active magnetic field. Mysteriously, ...

From Boring to Bursting: Giant Black Hole Awakens

Apr. 11, 2025 — Astronomers are investigating the longest and most energetic bursts of X-rays seen from a newly awakened black hole. Watching this strange behavior unfold in real time offers a unique opportunity to ...

'Hidden Galaxies': Key to Unlocking Some of Universe's Secrets

Apr. 9, 2025 — Astronomers have peered back in time to find what looks like a population of 'hidden' galaxies that could hold the key to unlocking some of the universe's secrets. If their existence is confirmed it ...

Scientists Source Solar Emissions With Largest-Ever Concentration of Rare Helium Isotope

Apr. 9, 2025 — The NASA/ESA Solar Orbiter recently recorded the highest-ever concentration of a rare helium isotope (3He) emitted from the Sun. A Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists sought the ...

Solar Cells Made of Moon Dust Could Power Future Space Exploration

Apr. 3, 2025 — The same dirt that clings to astronauts' boots may one day keep their lights on. Researchers created solar cells made out of simulated Moon dust. The cells convert sunlight into energy ...

Existing International Law Can Help Secure Peace and Security in Outer Space

Apr. 2, 2025 — World leaders should look to existing international law on the use of force to address the threat of space becoming ever more militarized, a new study ...

Asteroid Impact Threat Estimates Improved for the Earth and the Moon

Apr. 2, 2025 — An international team is currently closely tracking the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4. The impact probability estimates for the year 2032 has been reduced from a peak of 3 percent to below 0.001 ...

Insight from One of Milky Way's Most Extreme Environments

Apr. 2, 2025 — In new images, scientists have gotten the closest look yet at Sagittarius C -- a 'stellar nursery' where clouds of gas and dust have collapsed to form thousands of new ...

Miso Made in Space Tastes Nuttier

Apr. 2, 2025 — Miso is a traditional Japanese condiment made by fermenting cooked soybeans and salt. Researchers successfully made miso on the International Space Station (ISS). They found that the miso smelled and ...

Martian Dust Could Pose Health Risks to Future Astronauts

Mar. 31, 2025 — Inhaling dust particles from the Red Planet over long periods of time could put humans at risk of developing respiratory issues, thyroid disease and other health ...

Organic Molecules of Unprecedented Size Discovered on Mars

Mar. 24, 2025 — The longest organic molecules identified to date on Mars have recently been detected. These long carbon chains, containing up to 12 consecutive carbon atoms, could exhibit features similar to the ...

Oxygen for Mars

Mar. 24, 2025 — To mitigate global climate change, emissions of the primary culprit, carbon dioxide, must be drastically reduced. A newly developed process helps solve this problem: CO2 is directly split ...

Oxygen Discovered in Most Distant Known Galaxy

Mar. 20, 2025 — Astronomers have detected oxygen in the most distant known galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0. This record-breaking detection is making astronomers rethink how quickly galaxies formed in the early ...

Combination of Cosmic Processes Shapes the Size and Location of Sub-Neptunes

Mar. 17, 2025 — A combination of cosmic processes shapes the formation of one of the most common types of planets outside of our solar system, according to a new ...

Webb Telescope Captures Its First Direct Images of Carbon Dioxide Outside Solar System

Mar. 17, 2025 — The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first direct images of carbon dioxide in a planet outside the solar system in HR 8799, a multiplanet system 130 light-years away that has long been a ...

Age of Upcoming Asteroid Flyby Target

Mar. 17, 2025 — New modeling indicates the main belt asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson may have formed about 150 million years ago when a larger parent asteroid broke apart; its orbit and spin properties have ...

Weighing in on a Mars Water Debate

Mar. 13, 2025 — Water once existed in abundance of at the surface of Mars. How much of that water has been stored in the planet's crust is still unclear, according to a new ...

Signs of Alien Life May Be Hiding in These Gases

Mar. 12, 2025 — Scientists identify a new way to detect life in outer space with currently existing telescopes. The method hinges on worlds that look nothing like Earth, and gases rarely considered in the search for ...

Small, Faint and 'Unexpected in a Lot of Different Ways': Astronomers Make Galactic Discovery

Mar. 11, 2025 — The discovery of the dwarf galaxy Andromeda XXXV --located roughly 3 million light-years away and the smallest yet found in the Andromeda system -- is forcing astronomers to rethink how galaxies ...

James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Unexpected Complex Chemistry in Primordial Galaxy

Mar. 10, 2025 — Astronomers have peered back to a time when the universe was just less than 300 million years old. The research team, using JWST revealed something extraordinary in the galaxy: significant amounts of ...

How's the Weather on Mars?

Mar. 6, 2025 — A new study revealed that atmospheric gravity waves play a crucial role in driving latitudinal air currents on Mars, particularly at high altitudes. The findings, based on long-term atmospheric data, ...

The Chances of Anything Coming from Mars

Mar. 5, 2025 — Within the next decade, space agencies plan to bring samples of rock from Mars to Earth for study. Of concern is the possibility these samples contain life, which could have unforeseen consequences. ...

Small and Large Planets Have Significantly Different Upbringings

Mar. 5, 2025 — Studying the orbits of thousands of exoplanets shows that large planets tend to have elliptical orbits, while smaller planets tend to have more circular orbits. This split coincides with several ...