NGC 2359 is a helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages popularly called Thor’s Helmet. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor’s Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble’s center inflates a region within the surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. The remarkably detailed image Read more »

University and high school students from Florida will have an opportunity to talk with a NASA astronaut on the International Space Station next week. from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2BCL1po via IFTTT

NASA is preparing to explore electric-powered flight with the X-57 Maxwell, a unique all-electric aircraft which features 14 propellers along its wing. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2tj2Cy0

This preflight image from Feb. 6, 2019, shows NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson during spacewalk preparations and training inside the Space Station Airlock Mockup at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2IlJIRI

NASA has selected a new space mission that will help astronomers understand both how our universe evolved and how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy’s planetary systems. from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2UXvtUi via IFTTT

One of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration, NASA’s Opportunity rover mission is at an end after almost 15 years exploring the surface of Mars and helping lay the groundwork for NASA’s return to the Red Planet. from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2DAWMwU via IFTTT

NASA’s record-setting Opportunity rover mission on Mars comes to end. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2SPsznl

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch will be available for live satellite interviews Friday, Feb. 22, as they undergo final training before their launch to the International Space Station, scheduled for March 14. from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2N4J7Cl via IFTTT

Is the Helix Nebula looking at you? No, not in any biological sense, but it does look quite like an eye. The Helix Nebula is so named because it also appears that you are looking down the axis of a helix. In actuality, it is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry, including radial filaments and extended outer loops. The Helix Nebula (aka NGC 7293) is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula, a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a Read more »

NASA will discuss the status of its Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity in a media briefing at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) Wednesday, Feb. 13, from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The briefing will air live on NASA Television, the agency’s website and YouTube. from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2TPUDEw via IFTTT