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In the News

NASA's WISE Catches Aging Star Erupting with Dust
NASA's WISE Catches Aging Star Erupting With Dust
04.26.12 – Images from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) reveal an old star in the throes of a fiery outburst, spraying the cosmos with dust.


NASA's Swift Monitors Departing Comet Garradd
NASA's Swift Monitors Departing Comet Garradd
04.13.12 – Outbound comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) provided a nice show for skywatchers last year. Now, it's the target of an ongoing investigation.


NASA's WISE Mission Sees Skies Ablaze With Blazars
NASA's WISE Mission Sees Skies Ablaze With Blazars
04.12.12 – Astronomers are actively hunting a class of supermassive black holes throughout the universe called blazars thanks to data collected by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).


Launch of NASA's NuSTAR Mission Postponed
Launch of NASA's NuSTAR Mission Postponed
03.16.12 – The planned launch of NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission has been postponed after a March 15 launch status meeting.


NASA Releases New Catalog of Entire Infrared Sky
NASA Releases New Catalog of Entire Infrared Sky
03.14.12 – A new, large mosaic from NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) showcases a vast stretch of cosmic clouds bubbling with new star birth.


NASA March 13 NuSTAR Media Briefing Postponed
NASA March 13 NuSTAR Media Briefing Postponed
03.12.12 – The Tuesday, March 13, media briefing to discuss the upcoming launch of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has been postponed.


Second Biggest Flare of the Solar Cycle
Second Biggest Flare Of the Solar Cycle
03.09.12 – The sun erupted with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle on March 6, 2012 at 7PM EST, an X5.4.


NASA's REXTE Captures Thermonuclear Behavior
NASA's RXTE Captures Thermonuclear Behavior
03.09.12 – A neutron star near the center of our galaxy erupted with hundreds of X-ray bursts, powered by thermonuclear explosions on the star's surface.


NASA to hold Media Briefing about NuSTAR Mission
NASA to Hold Media Briefing About NuSTAR Mission
03.08.12 – NASA will hold a media briefing at 9 a.m. PDT (12 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, March 13, to discuss the upcoming launch of an innovative X-ray telescope called NuSTAR.


Engineers Tuck NuSTAR in its Nose Cone
Engineers Tuck NuSTAR in its Nose Cone
03.02.12 – NuSTAR is being encapsulated in its rocket nose cone, or fairing, which will protect it during launch, scheduled for no earlier than March 21.


NuSTAR Mirrors Baked in Glass Kitchen
NuSTAR Mirrors Baked in Glass Kitchen
02.23.12 – Astrophysicist Will Zhang has experimented with a new technique for efficiently manufacturing super-thin, low-cost curved telescope mirror segments.


THEMIS: Five Years of Aurora and Space Weather
THEMIS: Five Years of Aurora and Space Weather
02.17.12 – Since 2007, THEMIS has mapped how explosive auroras erupt and solar wind transfers energy to the magnetosphere.


NuSTAR Mated to its Rocket
NuSTAR Mated to its Rocket
02.17.12 – Mating of NASA's NuSTAR observatory to its Pegasus rocket is underway.



RHESSI Celebrates 10 Years and 40,000 X-Ray Flares
RHESSI Celebrates 10 Years and 40,000 X-Ray Flares
02.08.12 – Ten years since its launch, RHESSI has observed more than 40,000 X-ray flares, helped craft a model of how solar eruptions form, and fueled additional serendipitous science papers on such things as the shape of the sun.

NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer in Standby Mode
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer in Standby Mode
02.07.12 – NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer was placed in standby mode today as engineers prepare to end mission operations, nearly nine years after the telescope's launch.


The Interstellar Material Beyond our Solar System
The Interstellar Material Beyond our Solar System
01.31.12 – It's an alien environment out there: the material in the galactic wind doesn't look like the same stuff our solar system is made of.


THEMIS sees a Great Electron Escape
THEMIS Sees a Great Electron Escape
01.30.12 – Filled with electrons and charged particles, the radiation belts regularly swell and shrink, but no one is quite sure how. A new study sheds light on how those radiation particles escape.


NuSTAR Spacecraft Arrives in California
NuSTAR Spacecraft Arrives in California
01.27.12 – NASA's NuSTAR mission has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California, where it will be mated to its Pegasus rocket.


NASA's NuSTAR Ships to Vandenberg for March 14 Launch
NASA's NuSTAR Ships to Vandenberg for March 14 Launch
01.25.12 – NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has been shipped to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., to be mated to its Pegasus launch vehicle.


RXTE Helps Pinpoint Black Hole's 'Bullets'
RXTE Helps Pinpoint Black Hole's ‘Bullets’
01.10.12 – An international team of astronomers has identified the moment when a black hole in our galaxy launched super-fast knots of gas into space.


Stars Pop onto the Scene in New WISE Image
Stars Pop Onto the Scene in New WISE Image
01.10.12 – A new, large mosaic from NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) showcases a vast stretch of cosmic clouds bubbling with new star birth.


Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer Completes Mission Operations
Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer Completes Mission Operations
01.09.12 – After 16 years in space, RXTE has made its last observation. The satellite provided unprecedented views into the extreme environments around white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.