The Winter Triangle meets the ‘Mars Triangle’ in the night sky this month

an illustration of the night sky showing a triangle formed from the two stars castor and pollux and mars

We’re now just past the midpoint of astronomical winter — that moment marking the midway point between December’s winter solstice and March’s vernal equinox. That moment took place at 4:11 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 3. And as darkness falls this week, we have what many refer to as the “Winter Triangle” dominating the southeast … Read more

Crater-diving hopper ‘Gracie’ launching to the moon aboard private Athena lander this month

a rectangular spacecraft with four legs sits upright on a grey, dusty landscape

A SpaceX launch later this month will send a new type of lunar explorer to the moon. IM-2, the second moon mission by Houston company Intuitive Machines, will lift off from Florida’s Space Coast during a four-day window that opens on Feb. 26. If all goes to plan, Athena will land on a plateau just … Read more

NASA’s launching a satellite constellation this month to study the solar wind in 3D

The sun, for all its glitz, tends to hide behind a veil of mystery. For instance, its outer atmosphere, the corona, appears to be hotter than its surface — like, way hotter — and scientists aren’t sure why. There’s also a big puzzle concerning how the solar wind, which is a stream of charged particles … Read more

December 2024 Transformer of the Month: Jill Marlowe

If Digital Transformation were a ship, the vessel for delivering on our missions and ensuring smooth passage into the future, our final Digital Transformer of 2024 would be the captain. Growing up sailing with her father on the Chesapeake Bay, this transformer developed the navigation skills she now uses at NASA “with both clarity and precision, … Read more