Category: General

NASA Removes Offensive Nicknames Given to Planets, Galaxies, and Other Heavenly Bodies

NASA has announced it will be removing the offensive nicknames given to planets, galaxies, and other heavenly bodies in the bid to achieve cosmic diversity, equity, and inclusion. According to NASA’s Associate Administrator for Diversity and Equal Opportunity, Stephen Shih, the nicknames have cultural connotations that offend the sensibilities of many people across the world. ...

Capturing an Avalanche on Mars

Hi-RISE, the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this avalanche plunging down a 1,640-foot-tall (500-meter-tall) cliff on May 29, 2019. The image also reveals layers at Mars’ north pole during spring. As temperatures increase and vaporize ice, the destabilized ice blocks break loose and kick up dust. Learn more as we mark the 15th anniversary since ...

Are Planets with Oceans Common in the Galaxy? It’s Likely, NASA Scientists Find

Several years ago, planetary scientist Lynnae Quick began to wonder whether any of the more than 4,000 known exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system, might resemble some of the watery moons around Jupiter and Saturn. Though some of these moons don’t have atmospheres and are covered in ice, they are still among the top targets ...

Space Station 20th: Food on ISS

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin made history as the first human in space aboard his Vostok capsule. During his single orbit around the Earth, he also became the first person to eat in space, squeezing beef and liver paste from an aluminum tube into his mouth. For dessert he had a ...