Press Releases & Feature Stories Archive - Astroparticle Physics Laboratory

In Planet Formation, It's Location, Location, Location

05.28.2020

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are finding that planets have a tough time forming in the rough-and-tumble central region of the massive, crowded star cluster Westerlund 2.

NASA Telescope Named For ‘Mother of Hubble’ Nancy Grace Roman

05.20.2020

NASA is naming its next-generation space telescope currently under development, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer, who paved the way for space telescopes focused on the broader universe.

AAS Names 29 NASA-Affiliated Legacy Fellows

04.30.2020

Twenty-nine scientists working at or affiliated with NASA have been named Fellows of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the major organization of professional astronomers in North America.

NASA’s Swift Satellite Celebrates 15 Years of Multiwavelength Science

04.28.2020

On Nov. 20, 2004, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory took to the skies aboard a Delta 7320 rocket and entered orbit around Earth.

NASA’s Swift Mission Tallied Water From Interstellar Comet Borisov

04.27.2020

For the first time, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory tracked water loss from an interstellar comet as it approached and rounded the Sun.

NASA Missions Help Reveal the Power of Shock Waves in a Nova Explosion

04.13.2020

Unparalleled observations of a nova outburst in 2018 by a trio of satellites, including two NASA missions, have captured the first direct evidence that shock waves powered most of the explosion's visible light.

New NASA Podcast Helps Listeners Explore Our ‘Curious Universe’

04.06.2020

NASA’s newest podcast is taking listeners on an adventure to explore the wonders of Earth and help unravel the mysteries of the universe.

NASA Science Keeps the Lights On

04.02.2020

Across NASA’s many missions, thousands of scientists, engineers, and other experts and professionals all over the country are doing what they do best, but now from home offices and via video conferencing. With most personnel supporting missions remotely to keep onsite staff at a minimal level in response to COVID-19, the Agency is moving ahead strongly with everything from space exploration to using our technology and innovation to help inform policy makers.

NASA Selects Proposals to Study Volatile Stars, Galaxies, Cosmic Collisions

03.16.2020

NASA has selected proposals for four missions that would study cosmic explosions and the debris they leave behind, as well as monitor how nearby stellar flares may affect the atmospheres of orbiting planets.

Statement on NASA Goddard’s Coronavirus Prep Actions

03.13.2020

Goddard has canceled all non-mission-essential visits to its facilities. Goddard also is closing its Visitor Centers at Greenbelt and at Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

NASA’s Fermi Mission Links Nearby Pulsar’s Gamma-ray ‘Halo’ to Antimatter Puzzle

12.19.2019

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered a faint but sprawling glow of high-energy light around a nearby pulsar. If visible to the human eye, this gamma-ray “halo” would appear about 40 times bigger in the sky than a full Moon.

Hubble Studies Gamma-Ray Burst With Highest Energy Ever Seen

11.20.2019

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers a peek at the location of the most energetic outburst ever seen in the universe — a blast of gamma-rays a trillion times more powerful than visible light. That’s because in a few seconds the gamma-ray burst (GRB) emitted more energy than the Sun will provide over its entire 10-billion year life.

NASA’s Fermi, Swift Missions Enable a New Era in Gamma-ray Science

11.20.2019

Two distant explosions first detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory have produced the highest-energy light yet seen from these events, called gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

NASA’s TESS Mission Spots Its 1st Star-shredding Black Hole

09.26.2019

For the first time, NASA’s planet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) watched a black hole tear apart a star in a cataclysmic phenomenon called a tidal disruption event. Follow-up observations from other instruments have produced the most detailed look yet at the early moments of one of these star-destroying occurrences.

NASA’s WFIRST Will Help Uncover Universe’s Fate

09.13.2019

NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope will launch in the will explore how dark energy has affected the universe's expansion in the past, which will let us foresee its possible fate.

Moon Glows Brighter Than Sun in Images From NASA's Fermi

08.15.2019

If our eyes could see gamma rays, the Moon would appear brighter than the Sun! That's how NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has seen our neighbor in space for the past decade. These gamma-ray observations are a reminder that astronauts on the Moon will require protection from the same cosmic rays that produce this high-energy gamma radiation.

NASA Scientist to Discuss “Cosmic Explosions and Cosmic Accelerators” at Library of Congress Lecture

08.01.2019

The public is invited to a free lecture called ‘Cosmic Explosions and Cosmic Accelerators: Gamma-rays and Multi-messenger Astronomy.'

New Hubble Constant Measurement Adds to Mystery of Universe’s Expansion Rate

07.16.2019

Astronomers have made a new measurement of how fast the universe is expanding, using an entirely different kind of star than previous endeavors.

NASA’s Fermi Mission Reveals its Highest-energy Gamma-ray Bursts

06.13.2019

For 10 years, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has scanned the sky for gamma-ray bursts, the universe's most luminous explosions. A new catalog of the blasts provides scientists with fresh insights into how they work.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Celebrates 60 Years

04.29.2019

On May 1, 1959, the Beltsville Space Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was renamed NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in honor of Robert H. Goddard, widely considered the father of modern rocketry. Thus began a 60-year boom in science and technological innovation.