NASA JPL
@NASAJPL
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory advances science and discovery through NASA robotic missions exploring Earth, the solar system, and the universe.
129 Following 3.7M Followers
The Orionid meteor shower, created by tiny pieces of debris from Halley's Comet, peaks on the night of Oct. 21 - 22. Your best chance to see them comes a few hours before dawn, after the bright Moon sets. Find a dark location, give your eyes time to adjust, and look up.
Show more
Shaken, spun, baked, and blasted!
A commercial lander that will be at the forefront of establishing @NASAMoonBase, humanity’s first lunar outpost, has passed a series of critical tests at JPL. 1/2
Show more
Enjoy the Harvest Moon and more this weekend.
An image processing method developed at JPL – for Mars – is helping uncover ancient rock art, buildings, and even tattoos on mummified human remains on Earth.
See more (literally):
Show more
“We’re seeing volcanoes around the world that we’ve never really had eyes on like this before.” – Matthew Pritchard, NISAR science team
See how NISAR captured a volcano that hasn’t erupted since about 1550 ⤵️
Show more
Today, NASA announced PRIMA, a new space telescope that will explore long-standing mysteries around the formation of planets, stars, black holes, and even how water on Earth came to be.
Show more
Layered beauty 😍
The Arabia Terra region on Mars has deposits that preserve a record of the planet’s ancient climate. The rhythmic nature of the layers could be due to cyclic processes, such as dust storms, perhaps involving groundwater. 1/2
Show more
A tiny amoeba broke complex life’s heat record and could broaden the search for habitable worlds. 🔥
NASA-supported researchers found the first known eukaryote able to reproduce at 145°F (63°C), hotter than scientists thought complex cells could withstand.
Show more
Sept. 22 marks the fall equinox. That means day and night are nearly equal in length around the world, and in the Northern Hemisphere, fall begins. In the Southern Hemisphere, spring begins on this day.
Show more
As of Sept. 22, it's officially fall in the Northern Hemisphere…while spring begins in the Southern Hemisphere. 🍁 🌎 💐
That's the September equinox, when the Sun is directly above Earth's equator and day and night are close to equal in length around the world.
Show more
Sometimes following the water can lead to surprising places💧
A new study of data from Perseverance reveals that rocks in Jezero Crater were shaped by a complex sequence of ancient lakes, groundwater systems, and hydrothermal fluids. 1/2
Show more
Sunrise, sunset 🏜️
To mark Curiosity’s 5,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, the rover’s team created this postcard. It combines two panoramas, with blue colors representing images taken in the morning, and yellow colors for the images taken at dusk. 1/2
Show more
If Earth were a hard marble, its center of mass would stay in the middle – but in reality, the center shifts as seasons move water, ice, and air around the planet. NASA scientists developed a new way to track these motions more precisely, helping improve mapping and navigation.
Show more
We like the looks of that! 👁️
Congrats to the entire @NASARoman team on this milestone.
We're especially excited to see that testing is going well for our Roman Coronagraph, which will demo new ways to directly image planets around other stars!
More:
Show more
Sometimes your eyes need a minute to focus when you wake up. Roman's Wide Field Instrument just woke up for the first time EVER, and scientists have started adjusting its "eyes" so they can focus on the bigger picture.
Check out its first test image below
Show more
Nature’s coronagraph. 🌙☀️
Here’s a throwback to the 2024 total solar eclipse, when scientists and citizen scientists used this unique opportunity to collect observations of the innermost corona, helping researchers study how heat and energy move through the solar atmosphere.
Show more
How will El Niño affect hurricanes? NASA satellites are helping improve predictions. 🌀
NASA and European Sentinel-6 satellites measure sea level height to track changes in ocean heat and better understand shifts in hurricane patterns. The data can help guide disaster response.
Show more
Do you recognize this area? If so, you might be a Star Trek fan! 🖖
This @NASA satellite image shows Vasquez Rocks Natural Area in Southern California. Multiple Star Trek scenes were filmed here, including an iconic battle between Captain James T. Kirk and a reptilian alien.
Show more
The Curiosity rover has now been exploring the surface of Mars for more than 5000 Martian days! Each day on Mars, or "sol," is about 24.6 hours long.
How did Curiosity and its team mark the occasion? By working, of course. 1/2
Show more
Venus’ greatest elongation is now visible!
When a planet is at its greatest elongation, we observe the greatest visual separation between the planet and the Sun, as seen from Earth – making it an ideal time for viewing.
This weekend is a great time to catch Venus, especially through a telescope!
Show more
NASA’s PREFIRE satellites have now collected two full years of data showing how surface temperatures change at Earth’s poles. Tracking these changes helps scientists better understand how energy moves into and out of the Earth system.
Show more
