NEWS & FEATURES

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance samples its first (two) rocks

Sometimes, the rocks fail you. That’s what happened to the Perseverance rover during its first attempted sample collection in Jezero Crater.

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Say Aloha to Hawaii with TravelQuest!

Our journey crisscrosses the Big Island of Hawaii, exploring the basalt-lava rock pools of Hilo, pristine beaches, waterfalls, lush rainforests, and Volcanoes National Park. Ascend to great heights with a visit to Mauna Kea Observatories, where our small group of intrepid sky watchers will discover what secrets the Hawaiian skies reveal!

Carmen Pantoja Arecibo Observatory/NAIC

The rise and fall of Arecibo Observatory - an oral history

In this oral history, researchers chronicle the telescope’s brilliant career, its devastating collapse, and the legacy it leaves behind.

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Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

Why haven't humans reached Mars?

Our neighboring planet only sits 34 billion miles away, so what's the big hold up?

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Pixabay

Video: How much does Earth weigh?

We can't put Earth on a scale, but there are other ways to figure out the weight of our world.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Ask Astro: What would Earth look like from Venus?

If you were on Venus and looking at Earth, what features would you be able to see with our modern-day telescopes (professional and amateur)?

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OBSERVING

Judy Schmidt (Flickr)

The sky this week

Your daily digest of celestial events coming soon to a sky near you.

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PICTURE OF THE DAY

Douglas J. Struble from Taylor, Michigan

Turn up the volume

The Headphone Nebula, also known as Jones-Emberson 1, is a faint planetary nebula in the constellation Lynx. It lies some 1,600 light-years away. The photographer combined 36 hours of exposures to create this image.

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