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  • “Milky Way Shines Above Earth’s Glow from the ISS”

    The Milky Way appears above Earth’s bright atmospheric glow in this Aug. 23, 2025, photograph from the International Space Station as it soared 261 miles above southern Iran at approximately 12:54 a.m. local time. The camera was configured for low light and long duration settings.

    Our home galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars, enough gas and dust to make billions more stars, and at least ten times as much dark matter as all the stars and gas put together. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – slated to launch no later than May 2027 – will help scientists better understand the gas and dust strewn between stars in our galaxy, known as the interstellar medium.

    Image credit: NASA; JAXA

  • Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io

    During its close flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io on December 30, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured some of the most detailed imagery ever of Io’s volcanic surface. This image is the NASA Science Image of the Month for October 2025.

  • Serenity in Bloom: The Water Lily Pond

    Serenity in Bloom: The Water Lily Pond

    A serene water lily pond adorned with pink blossoms is more than just a picturesque sight—it is nature’s own meditation space. The delicate petals rising gracefully above still waters embody purity and renewal, while their reflection on the calm surface creates an atmosphere of balance and harmony. Beyond their beauty, water lilies play a vital ecological role: their broad floating leaves regulate pond temperature, shelter aquatic creatures, and maintain the health of the water. What makes them even more captivating is their daily rhythm—opening at sunrise to greet the light and closing at dusk in quiet rest. Across cultures, pink water lilies hold profound symbolism, often associated with enlightenment, peace, and spiritual awakening. Standing by such a pond is not merely an encounter with beauty, but an invitation to pause, breathe deeply, and be reminded of life’s gentle rhythms.

  • “From Gas to Galaxies: The Puzzling Process of Star Formation”

    Star formation is one of the most important processes in shaping the Universe; it plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers don’t understand, such as how do the properties of stellar nurseries vary according to the composition and density of gas present, and what triggers star formation in the first place? The driving force behind star formation is particularly unclear for a type of galaxy called a flocculent spiral, such as NGC 2841 shown here, which features short spiral arms rather than prominent and well-defined galactic limbs.

  • Light continues to echo three years after stellar outburst

    The Hubble Space Telescope’s latest image of the star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) reveals dramatic changes in the illumination of surrounding dusty cloud structures. The effect, called a light echo, has been unveiling never-before-seen dust patterns ever since the star suddenly brightened for several weeks in early 2002.

  • “Testing Space-Ready Tech: DFF-Cube No. 2 Prepped for Cosmic Radiation Study”

    jsc2025e078769
    NASA ID: jsc2025e078769
    jsc2025e078769 (September 26, 2025) — This image shows the DFF-Cube No. 2 unit being prepared for installation into the MISSE test container. Once in orbit, the unit records how cosmic radiation impacts semiconductor materials. Data from the DFF-Cube investigation helps researchers understand which materials are more resistant to radiation, reducing the risk of computer malfunctions in space. Image courtesy of Resonac Corporation.

  • “Hubble’s Ultimate Portrait: The Most Detailed View of the Crab Nebula Ever Captured”

    This Hubble image gives the most detailed view of the entire Crab Nebula ever. The Crab is among the most interesting and well-studied objects in astronomy. This image is the largest image ever taken with Hubble’s WFPC2 camera. It was assembled from 24 individual exposures taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and is the highest resolution image of the entire Crab Nebula ever made.

  • Hubble’s Time-Lapse of Galaxy NGC 2525 and Its Fading Supernova

    Pictured here is the captivating galaxy NGC 2525. Located nearly 70 million light-years from Earth, this galaxy is part of the constellation of Puppis in the southern hemisphere. Together with the Carina and the Vela constellations, it forms an image of the Argo from ancient Greek mythology.  Another kind of monster, a supermassive black hole, lurks at the centre of NGC 2525. Nearly every galaxy contains a supermassive black hole, which can range in mass from hundreds of thousands to billions of times the mass of the Sun.  Hubble has captured a series of images of NGC 2525 as part of one of its major investigations, measuring the expansion rate of the Universe, which can help answer fundamental questions about the universe’s very nature. ESA/Hubble has now published a unique time-lapse of this galaxy and its fading supernova.

  • Hubble Revisits the Pillars of Creation

    The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revisited one of its most iconic and popular images: the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. This image shows the pillars as seen in visible light, capturing the multi-coloured glow of gas clouds, wispy tendrils of dark cosmic dust, and the rust-coloured elephants’ trunks of the nebula’s famous pillars. The dust and gas in the pillars are seared by the intense radiation from young stars and eroded by strong winds from massive nearby stars. With these new images comes better contrast and a clearer view for astronomers to study the ever-changing structure of the pillars.

  • How Much of Earth Is Really Water?

    How Much of Earth Is Really Water?

    It might surprise you — very little. While oceans cover about 70% of Earth’s surface, they are relatively shallow compared to Earth’s size.

    Scientists have illustrated this by imagining all of Earth’s water gathered into a single sphere. The result? A ball with a radius of just 700 kilometers — less than half the size of our Moon, and even slightly smaller than Saturn’s moon Rhea, which is mostly water ice.

    To put it in perspective:

    • The largest sphere represents all water on or near Earth’s surface.

    • A smaller sphere represents all of Earth’s liquid fresh water.

    • The tiny sphere shows the total water found in rivers and lakes.

    The origins of Earth’s water — and how much might be hidden deep underground — remain active areas of scientific research.

    💧 Water is actually a precious and limited resource.