NASA Goddard

This week, NOAA's SWFO-L1 is launching with NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. These probes and telescopes will help researchers monitor and study the Sun, the near-Earth environment, and the heliosphere.

SWFO-L1 will keep a watchful eye on the Sun and near-Earth environment for space weather activity, using a suite of instruments to make real time measurements of the solar wind.

3 months ago | [YT] | 51

NASA Goddard

A baby picture for the ages 🛰️

NASA’s retired COBE satellite gave us the first baby picture of the universe by capturing light released just 380,000 years after the big bang. COBE’s Differential Microwave Radiometer offers a unique and colorful look at the sky, including the oldest light in the universe.

COBE has discovered clues as to how the universe’s first structures were formed, reflected in tiny differences in temperature across the cosmos seen here.

3 months ago | [YT] | 47

NASA Goddard

Celebrate the anniversary of ‪@NASAWebbTelescope‬'s first science images by watching the behind-the-scenes story of how this telescope grew from an idea to a scientific marvel.

5 months ago | [YT] | 78

NASA Goddard

Rain, rain, go away 🌧️

NASA's Webb telescope peered through the thick atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan to see the cycle of weather occurring there. On Titan, methane goes through similar condensation, precipitation, and evaporation as water on Earth.

7 months ago | [YT] | 72

NASA Goddard

In 2023, we brought a sample of an asteroid called Bennu to Earth, part of a plan to study remnants of our early solar system. These grains of rock have shown that the building blocks of life and the conditions for making them existed on Bennu's parent body 4.5 billion years ago.

The Bennu samples contain amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins -- including 14 of the 20 that life uses to create proteins here on Earth. In addition, the samples contain all five of the nucleobases that encode genetic information in DNA and RNA.

The samples also contain minerals called evaporites, or salts, which exist on Earth, too. Evaporites are evidence that the larger body Bennu was once part of had a wet, salty environment. On Earth, scientists believe conditions like this played a role in life developing.

Although there is no evidence that life ever existed on Bennu or its parent body, the asteroid samples suggest that ingredients for life were widespread across the early solar system, and some may have made their way to Earth when asteroids bombarded our planet during its youth.

The samples contain other surprises as well. Some of those amino acids exist almost exclusively in one of two possible orientations on Earth. We expected to see some of this imbalance on Bennu, too. But the samples revealed an even mix of both molecule orientations, suggesting that something else in early life may have caused the imbalance.

Much of this science wouldn't have been possible to conduct in space, and traveling through Earth's atmosphere and landing on the ground changes fragments of asteroids, making meteorites an imperfect record of the solar system’s history. This means that sample return missions like OSIRIS-REx are a unique way to peek into our early solar system from the era of the origins of life.

11 months ago | [YT] | 191

NASA Goddard

Who’s ready to #ObserveTheMoon together? 🌓

If you look up at the Moon today, make lunar music or art, join an observing event, or just take time to wonder & learn about our neighbor in space, you're doing so alongside people all over the world.

moon.nasa.gov/observe

1 year ago | [YT] | 152

NASA Goddard

Meet Emme Watkins, early career video producer and creator of An Ocean in Bloom.

Emme created the film – which explores harmful algal blooms and NASA’s PACE mission – as her graduate thesis while interning at Goddard. We got her story of making this documentary:

“An Ocean in Bloom explores the intricate relationship between human activity, marine ecosystems, the struggle against harmful algal blooms and groundbreaking technology from NASA that may bring us closer to mitigating these destructive phenomena.

I grew up visiting a small island in Florida, Boca Grande, and became interested in our oceans. When I started applying to colleges, I followed that passion to study Marine Science at the University of Miami! Following my undergraduate studies, I went on to combine my love for filmmaking and my passion for marine sciences to get my Masters in Fine Arts in Film and Media Arts at American University. During my internships at NASA, I was very lucky to be a part of an incubator program that allowed me to collaborate with NASA on my graduate thesis film.

When brainstorming for my film, I wanted to do something related to the ocean. Goddard’s executive producer, Wade Sisler, mentioned the upcoming launch of PACE. After digging into the satellite and how it could help mitigate impacts of harmful algal blooms, I knew I wanted to explore this story further. Growing up, we would often visit the beach at Boca Grande and be disappointed by the toxic feeling in the air – constant coughing, sneezing, and eyes burning. These effects were all a result of a particular type of harmful algal bloom, red tide. I have seen how intense red tide blooms have affected this small island and beyond — ruining economies, having negative health impacts on the community, and killing marine life. Having had a connection to harmful algal blooms all my life, I wanted to explore the satellite that could potentially mitigate the effects these blooms have globally.

Filming the b-roll was one of my favorite processes in creating this film! I love being outside and especially on the water, so to combine that with something I also love was a dream come true! While I hired a videographer, Aakash Bakshi, myself and several other team members filmed b-roll. I flew to Florida twice for this shoot.

The drone shots were so amazing. Aakash had a drone that took beautiful video. Being in a place like Boca Grande also helped with the beauty of the shots. We took a lot of our drone shots at sunrise and sunset, when the island is peaceful and the colors popped. I found that taking different angles and close up shots helped make waves and water look unique. I was able to capture shots that differ in emotion. For example, a close up shot of a wave crashing head-on would elicit a more urgent, uncomfortable feeling. While a close up profile shot of a gentle wave rolling in gave a more pensive, fragile feeling.”

1 year ago | [YT] | 106

NASA Goddard

Jupiter's moon Europa hides a liquid water ocean under an icy crust. The presence of water makes Europa an intriguing candidate when searching for life beyond Earth.

Explore the Webb telescope's view of the icy moon in Other Worlds episode 2:

1 year ago | [YT] | 73

NASA Goddard

Hay is for nebulae! 🐴

Watch our view of the Horsehead Nebula change, from Euclid to Hubble to Webb's newest look.

1 year ago | [YT] | 70

NASA Goddard

Ready to GOES!
Meet NOAA’s GOES-U satellite, set to launch this summer to join our nation’s fleet of spacecraft monitoring weather and environmental hazards from geostationary orbit. Catch up on the satellite’s capabilities before GOES-U goes up to space.

1 year ago | [YT] | 78