Goldstone’s DSS-15 Antenna and the Milky Way

Deep Space Station 15 (DSS-15), one of the 112-foot (34-meter) antennas at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, looks skyward, with the stars of the Milky Way overhead, in September 2025. via NASA https://ift.tt/jrLgEBo

Webb Zooms into Helix Nebula

A new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of a portion of the Helix Nebula highlights comet-like knots, fierce stellar winds, and layers of gas shed off by a dying star interacting with its surrounding environment. Webb’s image also shows the stark transition between the hottest gas to the coolest gas as the shell expands out from the central white dwarf. via NASA https://ift.tt/pHVCYNg

Chandra, Webb Catch Twinkling Lights

This stellar landscape is reminiscent of a winter vista in a view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). Chandra data (red, green and blue) punctuate the scene with bursts of colored lights representing high-energy activity from the active stars. via NASA https://ift.tt/DkpljOU

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Finds Crystal-Spewing Protostar

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s 2024 NIRCam image shows protostar EC 53 circled. Researchers using new data from Webb’s MIRI proved that crystalline silicates form in the hottest part of the disk of gas and dust surrounding the star — and may be shot to the system’s edges. via NASA https://ift.tt/eEuS5bC

Hubble Observes Ghostly Cloud Alive with Star Formation

A seemingly serene landscape of gas and dust is hopping with star formation behind the scenes. via NASA https://ift.tt/E1y6QTm

Red, Green Light Show

A green and red aurora streams across Earth’s horizon above the city lights of Europe in this Jan. 19, 2026, photograph, which looks north across Italy toward Germany. The International Space Station was orbiting 262 miles above the Mediterranean Sea at approximately 10:02 p.m. local time when the image was captured. via NASA https://ift.tt/rwWq75e

NASA's Day of Remembrance 2026

The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial is seen during a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA's Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber) via NASA https://ift.tt/Vi3JtnX

NASA’s Artemis II Rocket and Spacecraft Make Their Way to Launch Pad

NASA's massive Crawler-Transporter, upgraded for the Artemis program, carried the agency's SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft on the Mobile Launcher from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for the Artemis II mission. via NASA https://ift.tt/azMIUWe

Hubble Nets Menagerie of Young Stellar Objects

A bright reflection nebula shares the stage with a protostar and planet-forming disk in this Hubble image. via NASA https://ift.tt/MDgmt4w

NASA’s Crawler Preps for Artemis II Rollout

NASA’s crawler-transporter 2 moves toward the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. The crawler will transport NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft to Launch Complex 39B ahead of the Artemis II launch. via NASA https://ift.tt/HFDb4J7

Hubble Spies Stellar Blast Setting Clouds Ablaze

Jets of ionized gas streak across a cosmic landscape from a newly forming star. via NASA https://ift.tt/ziTftrv

New York–Newark–Jersey City Metropolitan Area

The New York–Newark–Jersey City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which spans 23 counties across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and has a population of about 19.9 million, is pictured at approximately 3:29 a.m. local time Dec. 20, 2025, from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above the Atlantic coast. via NASA https://ift.tt/Qi43Uts

NASA’s Pandora Small Satellite Launched

NASA’s Pandora small satellite, and NASA-sponsored Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS), and Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope (BlackCAT) CubeSat, are ready to be encapsulated inside a SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairing in this early January 2026 photo. Pandora and the CubeSats launched Sunday, Jan. 11, from Vandenberg Space Force Base located on California’s central coast. via NASA https://ift.tt/DTCYj9L

White Dwarf Star (Artist’s Concept)

This artist’s concept depicts a smaller white dwarf star pulling material from a larger star, right, into an accretion disk. Scientists used NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer) to study a white dwarf star and its X-ray polarization. via NASA https://ift.tt/TYBaF6x

Best of 2025: Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) Projected on Washington Monument

Images depicting NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are projected onto the Washington Monument as part of an event to kick off the nation's 250th birthday year, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Washington. via NASA https://ift.tt/2hK5n6Q

Best of 2025: Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test

Artemis II crewmembers (left to right) NASA astronauts Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Victor Glover, pilot; CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist; and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, commander are led to the crew access arm as they prepare to board their Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket during the Artemis II countdown demonstration test on Dec. 20, 2025. via NASA https://ift.tt/AmiDV3j

Lightning from Above

NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers captured this image of lightning while orbiting aboard the International Space Station more than 250 miles above Milan, Italy. via NASA https://ift.tt/CL2pUy3

First Sky Map from NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory

NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory has mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, as seen here in this image released on Dec. 18, 2025. This image features a selection of colors emitted primarily by stars (blue, green, and white), hot hydrogen gas (blue), and cosmic dust (red). via NASA https://ift.tt/TqiZkyd

Scientific Balloon Begins Antarctic Ascent

A scientific balloon starts its ascent into the air as it prepares to launch carrying NASA’s Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) mission. The mission lifted off from Antarctica at 5:56 a.m. NZST, Saturday, Dec. 20 (11:56 a.m., Friday, Dec. 19 in U.S. Eastern Time). The PUEO mission is designed to detect radio signals created when highly energetic particles called neutrinos from space hit the ice. via NASA https://ift.tt/dTIkapL

Hubble Glimpses Galactic Gas Making a Getaway

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy NGC 4388, a member of the Virgo galaxy cluster. via NASA https://ift.tt/BvCE8pn