ancient universe

14/07/2026

Could exotic lifeforms be brewing on Titan? Saturn’s largest moon is covered with the carbon-based building blocks of life and is the only place that we know of besides Earth with large lakes on its surface – made from super-chilled methane instead of water. In 2017, NASA discovered that Titan’s thick, hazy atmosphere contains acrylonitrile, a lipid-like molecule that could cluster together within the moon’s lakes to form vesicles. These hollow spheres strongly resemble cell membranes on Earth, but a follow-up study determined that vesicles would be unlikely to form on Titan without an additional source of energy, casting doubt on their emergence. Now, a recent study coauthored by NASA shows that the missing spark could come from rainfall
Video credit.NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

12/07/2026

This video follows the cross-country journey of eight of the 10 solid rocket booster segments that will help power NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the Artemis III mission. Transported by rail from Northrop Grumman’s facility in Corinne, Utah, to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the shipment marked the first trip for Union Pacific Railroad’s newest commemorative locomotive, No. 4547. Midway through the journey, the booster segments were transferred to another rail carrier, Norfolk Southern, to complete their trip to Florida. The 10 booster motor segments will be assembled into the SLS rocket’s twin solid rocket boosters, which provide more than 75% of the vehicle’s thrust at liftoff.

12/07/2026

In this video shows how two tiny but very dense neutron stars merge and explode as a kilonova. Such a very rare event is expected to produce both gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on 17 August 2017 by LIGO–Virgo and Fermi/INTEGRAL respectively. Subsequent detailed observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and other telescopes all over the world have confirmed that this object, seen in the galaxy NGC 4993 about 130 million light-years from the Earth, is indeed a kilonova. These objects are the main source of very heavy chemical elements, such as gold and platinum, in the Universe.

Credit:
ESO/L. Calçada. Music: Johan B.
NASA Artemis Space Prime

11/07/2026

11/07/2026

video explores how Saturn is losing its rings at a rapid rate, and what that also reveals about the planet's history.

Infrared observations of Saturn were recorded using the 10-meter diameter Keck telescope in Hawaii. Through a careful analysis, Dr. James O'Donoghue and his team found a series of unusual bright and dark bands extending around the planet's upper atmosphere. It was found that these bands are linked to Saturn's rings by magnetic field lines, indicating that water ice from the rings is "raining" into the planet
This mechanism is called "ring rain," and was discovered using Voyager spacecraft data in the 1980s by study co-author Dr. Jack Connerney. In this process, electrically charged icy dust in Saturn's rings is pulled into the planet along magnetic field lines by gravity. Modeling work by study co-author Dr. Luke Moore shows that if there is a small amount of rain, the ionosphere glows, while if there is a large amount of rain, it becomes dark. Credit NASA

10/07/2026

When a star strays too close to a black hole, intense tides break it apart into a stream of gas. The tail of the stream escapes the system, while the rest of it swings back around, surrounding the black hole with a disk of debris. This video includes images of a tidal disruption event called ASASSN-19bt taken by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and Swift missions, as well as an animation showing how the event unfolded.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
SpaceEve NASA Artemis

10/07/2026

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope recently completed an epic 8-day voyage, the culmination of more than a decade of dedicated cross-country teamwork. This video retraces Roman's journey from humble beginnings as individual components spread across the country to the observatory's completion at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and finally to the launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Next, Roman will undergo final preparations prior to launch, which is slated for Aug. 30.

Narrated by John Rhys-Davies

09/07/2026

ESA/NASA’s Solar Orbiter has revealed the first-ever images of the Sun’s polar regions, previously hidden parts of the Sun newly visible thanks to the spacecraft’s uniquely “tilted” orbit.

The new images showcase a surprisingly splotchy mix of magnetic fields at the Sun’s poles. It’s a sign that our Sun is in its most chaotic phase, right in the middle of “flipping” its entire magnetic field upside down.

With its new vantage point, Solar Orbiter will be the first spacecraft to watch this flipping process happen at the Sun’s poles. The data will give new insight into the forces driving solar eruptions that affect Earth.

Video Credit: NASA/Joy Ng

08/07/2026

In May 2024, the Sun launched multiple, powerful eruptions toward Earth, causing the largest geomagnetic storm in over 20 years. The solar storm was so intense, it knocked out many GPS and communication systems and even sparked auroras as far south as Mexico. This scientific visualization shows how the storm affected Earth’s magnetosphere in real time.

Video Credit: NASA/Beth Anthony