Press Releases & Feature Stories Archive - Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory

NASA’s First Stellar Observatory, OAO 2, Turns 50

12.11.2018

Launched on Dec. 7, 1968, NASA's Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2, nicknamed Stargazer, was the agency's first successful cosmic explorer — a direct ancestor of Hubble and many other astronomy satellites.

Multimessenger Links to NASA’s Fermi Mission Show How Luck Favors the Prepared

11.08.2018

In 2017, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope played a pivotal role in two important breakthroughs occurring just five weeks apart.

‘Pulsar in a Box’ Reveals Surprising Picture of a Neutron Star’s Surroundings

10.10.2018

Scientists studying what amounts to a computer-simulated 'pulsar in a box' are uncovering particle behaviors that may help explain how neutron stars emit gamma-ray and radio pulses with ultraprecise timing.

New Simulation Sheds Light on Spiraling Supermassive Black Holes

10.02.2018

A new model is bringing scientists a step closer to understanding the kinds of light signals produced when two supermassive black holes spiral toward a collision.

NASA Goddard’s Science Jamboree Connects Disciplines and Interns

07.26.2018

The Goddard Science Jamboree provides an opportunity for interns and senior scientists alike to learn more about the science happening in other disciplines in one room.

2020 Decadal Survey Missions: At a Glance

04.24.2018

Any telescope that reaches the launch pad in the 2030s likely will look much different than the concepts four teams are currently studying to inform the 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics, but the studies do offer a roadmap.

NASA Teams Study the Agency’s Future in Astrophysics; Tackle Formidable Technology Challenges

04.24.2018

As in past decades, the agency won’t make that decision in a vacuum or without understanding the technical obstacles, which are formidable.

New Exoplanet Collaboration Hosts Meeting to Explore Molecular Seeds of Life

04.09.2018

The Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration (SEEC) hosts its first annual symposium April 9-13. Researchers will discuss how our knowledge of the early solar system can help the hunt for life on other worlds.

Astrophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

03.07.2018

NASA Goddard’s Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) is home to a vibrant community of scientists, technologists, and support staff dedicated to enabling NASA’s over-arching goals in astrophysics.

NASA Technology to Help Locate Electromagnetic Counterparts of Gravitational Waves

02.06.2018

A compact detector technology applicable to all types of cross-disciplinary scientific investigations has found a home on a new CubeSat mission designed to find the electromagnetic counterparts of events that generate gravitational waves.

Celebrating 60 Years of Groundbreaking U.S. Space Science

01.31.2018

Sixty years ago, the U.S. launched Explorer 1, rocketing into the Space Age.

Explorer 1: The Beginning of American Space Science

01.23.2018

Sixty years ago, the hopes of Cold War America soared into the night sky as a rocket lofted skyward above Cape Canaveral, a soon-to-be-famous barrier island off the Florida coast.

NASA Goddard Year in Review - 2017

12.20.2017

A look back at 2017 at NASA Goddard.

Proposed NASA Mission Employs “Lobster-Eye” Optics to Locate Source of Cosmic Ripples

10.26.2017

A novel optics system that mimics the structure of a lobster’s eyes would enable a conceptual Explorer-class mission to precisely locate, characterize, and alert other observatories to the source of gravitational waves, which are caused by some of the most powerful events in the universe.

NASA Missions Catch First Light from a Gravitational-Wave Event

10.16.2017

For the first time, NASA scientists have detected light tied to a gravitational-wave event, thanks to two merging neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993, located about 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra.

NASA Selects Proposals to Study Galaxies, Stars, Planets

08.09.2017

NASA has selected six astrophysics Explorers Program proposals for concept studies. The proposed missions would study gamma-ray and X-ray emissions from clusters of galaxies and neutron star systems, as well as infrared emissions from galaxies in the early universe and atmospheres of exoplanets, which are planets outside of our solar system.

Goddard Hosts 8th Annual Science Jamboree for Employees

07.13.2017

The Goddard Office of Communications and the Goddard Sciences and Exploration Directorate produced the eighth annual Science Jamboree on Wednesday, July 12, 2017.

NASA Astrophysicist to Discuss the Search for Earth-like Exoplanets at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

07.07.2017

NASA Astrophysicist Amber Straughn will give a talk about the search for Earth-like exoplanets to launch the 2017 season of Family Astronomy nights at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on Friday, July 14.

ESA to Develop Gravitational Wave Space Mission with NASA Support

06.22.2017

ESA (the European Space Agency) has selected the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) for its third large-class mission in the agency's Cosmic Vision science program. The three-spacecraft constellation is designed to study gravitational waves in space and is a concept long studied by both ESA and NASA.

Goddard Welcomes Nearly 450 Summer Interns

06.05.2017

Almost 450 interns will complete their "10-week job interview" at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center this summer.

NASA Scientists Assist LIGO in Third Gravitational Wave Observation

06.01.2017

About 3 billion years ago, a pair of orbiting black holes collided to form a single object with 49 times the mass of our sun. The event unleashed powerful gravitational waves—ripples in the very fabric of space and time—that reached Earth seconds before 5:12 a.m. EST on Jan. 4, 2017.