Best of NASA

Nearly 10 billion years ago the black hole at the center of a distant galaxy produced a powerful outburst and light from this blast began arriving at Earth in 2012 Astronomers using data from NASAs Fermi Gammaray Space Telescope and other space and groundbased observatories have shown that a recordbreaking neutrino seen around the same time likely was born in the same event

Glorious animated sequence describes the final leg of the Cassini spacecrafts epic journey through Saturns rings and into the atmosphere of the giant planet where it will burn up in a blaze of glory

Analysis of images from NASAs Dawn mission reveals that dwarf planet Ceres hosts an unexpectedly young cryovolcano that formed with the past billion years

Curiosity has made a longawaited left turn and is beginning a more aggressive climb up Mt Sharp Along the way it studied fractures in the ancient sandstone where groundwater once flowed and permeated the surrounding rock causing changes in chemistry that created lighttoned haloes around the fractures

Not far from Earth dark bodies of rock circle the sun in lonely orbits These near Earth objects or NEOs are asteroids found outside the traditional belt between Mars and Jupiter Protected from the gravitational tugs and tumbles that affect objects found closer to the gas giant these asteroids may contain clues about the origins of the solar system

Some 4 billion years ago the sun shone with only about threequarters the brightness we see today Powerful solar explosions may have provided the crucial energy needed to warm Earth despite the suns faintness The eruptions also may have furnished the energy needed to turn simple molecules into the complex molecules such as RNA and DNA that were necessary for life

Improving hurricane forecasts means testing historical storms with todays sophisticated models and supercomputers NASA and NOAA work together in gathering ground and satellite observations as well as experimenting with forecast models As a result of this collaboration model resolution has increased and scientists are discovering more about the processes that occur within these storms

When scientists look at Jupiters upper atmosphere in infrared light they see the region above the equator heating and cooling over a roughly fouryear cycle They dub this Jovian climate pattern the quasiquadrennial oscillation or QQO and it has a sibling on Earthnbspa twoyear temperature cycle accompanied by a reversal of the equatorial jet stream

In a little known initiative NASAs planet hunting Kepler Space Telescope has been observing the eighth planet in our solar system Neptune Kepler detected Neptunes daily rotation the movement of clouds and even minute changes in the Suns brightness paving the way for future studies of weather and climate beyond our solar system

The monsoon is a seasonal rain and wind pattern that NASA satellites and models are allowing us to see as never before Monsoon rains provide reservoirs of water that support the natural environment by replenishing aquifers However too much rainfall routinely causes disasters including flooding of the major rivers and landslides in areas of steep topography

NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has clocked more than a decade of service at the Red Planet and has yielded scientific discoveries and magnificent views of a distant world These images taken by MROs HiRISE camera are not in true color because they include infrared information in order to be optimized for geological science

Epic timelapse sequence from space shows a year in the life of our planet

The spacecraft Cassini fly close to this icey planet discovering whisps of water vapor being shot out of geysers at its surface What can we learn about interior of this mysterious moon

Scientists are closely monitoring a giant iceberg in the making as a crack in Antarcticas Pine Island glacier widens

The size of falling raindrops depends on where the cloud is and where the drops originate in the cloud Scientists now have 3D snapshots of raindrops and snowflakes from space With the new global data on raindrop and snowflake sizes this mission provides they can improve rainfall estimates from satellite data and in forecast models helping us understand and prepare for extreme weather events

The Juno spacecraft will for the first time peer below Jupiters dense cover of clouds to answer questions about the gas giant and the origins of our solar system Junos primary goal will be to reveal the story of Jupiters formation and evolution

NASA launched the spacecraft OSIRISREx in dramatic fashion sending in on an historic mission to the asteroid Bennu to collect and return a sample

Data from the Suomi NPP satellite is used by NASA scientists to map the full threedimensional structure of volcanic clouds allowing a more accurate forecast of where the volcanic ash is spreading The information will be used by air traffic management to reroute flights around the hazardous ash clouds which can damage airplane engines

This visualization begins by showing the dynamic beauty of the Arctic sea ice as it responds to winds and ocean currents Research into the behavior of the Arctic sea ice for the last 30 years has led to a deeper understanding of how this ice survives from year to year In the animation that follows age of the sea ice is visible showing the younger ice in darker shades of blue and the oldest ice in

This visualization transitions from a view of the Sun in visible light to a view in ultraviolet light showing the plasma flowing along solar magnetic structures to the underlying magnetic field of the solar photosphere to a model construction of magnetic fieldlines above the photosphere

The camera flies over the lunar terrain coming in for close looks at a variety of interesting sites ased on data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Includes narration music feature titles research sources and the location and scale of the image center Music Provided By Killer Tracks Never Looking Back Frederick Wiedmann Flying over Turmoil Benjamin Krause Scott Goodman