A huge X1.2-class solar flare erupted from the sun late Tuesday (May 14, 2013), the fourth major flare in two days from a busy sunspot on the surface of the sun. NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory captured this view of the event. (NASA/SDO) Severe space weather could be as devastating to the planet as serious tornadoes and other natural disasters, NASA chief Charles Bolden said in a public address Tuesday (June 4). Bolden spoke before scientists and industry members at the...

The contest invites LEGO fans to design and build future NASA air- and spacecraft. (LEGO/collectSPACE.com) NASA is challenging the next generation of aerospace engineers to toy with ideas for the future by using LEGO bricks to launch their concepts for advanced aircraft and spacecraft. The U.S. space agency and Danish toy company, which recently ended a partnership to fly the iconic plastic construction , are now jointly presenting the "NASA's Missions: Imagine and Build" competition. The contest, which is open...

After the sun sets on a summer evening and the sky fades to black, you may be lucky enough to see thin, wavy clouds illuminating the night, such as these seen over Billund, Denmark, on July 15, 2010. (Jan Erik Paulsen/NASA Earth Observatory) Night-shining clouds, an ethereal type of cloudknown to ripple across the edge of space, were expected to be rare this year, but a new study finds these specters are actually quite common and thicker than predicted. "This...

Ever wonder what a black hole looks like? This artist's illustration gives some insight. (April Hobart, NASA, Chandra X-Ray Observatory) Black holes may have been abundant among the first stars in the universe, helping explain the origin of the supermassive monsters that lurk at the heart of galaxies today, researchers say. An international team of astronomers has found that black holes likely contributed at least 20 percent of the infrared cosmic background, light emitted 400 million to 800 million years...

NASA's largest rocket yet, a vehicle under development called the Space Launch System (SLS), is on track for its first test flight in 2017, according to experts who spoke at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach last month. The rocket is designed to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. Meanwhile, NASA plans to leave travel to low-Earth orbit to commercial space companies, which are developing private space taxis to take over the job vacated by...

An artist's illustration of a comet storm around a nearby star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) The impact of comets crashing into Earth's surface may have provided the energy to create simple molecules that formed the precursors to life, a new study suggests. That conclusion, published in the June 20 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry A, was based on a computer model of such an impact's effect on a comet crystal initially made up of water, carbon dioxide and other simple molecules....

Astrophotographer Srinath Sonar sent in a photo of Mercury and Venus taken just after sunset in Bangalore, India, on June 5, 2013. (Srinath Sonar) Stargazers will get an interesting chance to see a celestial configuration between the moon and two bright planets on Monday (June 10) evening. Looking low toward the west-northwest horizon, you’ll first notice the , just 5 percent illuminated and just a little more than two days past new phase. Next, look about 9 degrees to the...

Opportunity Rover traverses Mars for signs of life. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.) NASA's Mars rover Opportunity has made perhaps the biggest discovery of its nearly 10-year career, finding evidence that life may have been able to get a foothold on the Red Planet long ago. The spotted clay minerals in an ancient rock on the rim of Mars' Endeavour Crater, suggesting that benign, neutral-pH water once flowed through the area, scientists said. "This is water you could drink," Opportunity principal investigator...

China's astronauts from left, Wang Yaping, Zhang Xiaoguang and Nie Haisheng wave as they leave the Jiuquan satellite launch center near Jiuquan in western China's Gansu province, Tuesday, June 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) BEIJING – China's latest manned space capsule docked with an orbiting space station Thursday, and the three astronauts climbed aboard what will be their home for the next week, state media reported.Automated controls guided the Shenzhou-10's docking with the space lab, the Xinhua News Agency said....

This is probably the most unique eclipse image ever released by NASA, but it's not all it seems. The picture is not based on images from Earth, or from a single spacecraft, but two separate NASA missions. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center stitched together images from the missions — the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SRO) and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbitor (LRO) — to get this breathtaking result. The team used mission data to create a 3D model of the...

Okovango River, Africa Northern Namibia and southern Angola is pictured in this Kompsat-2 image. The Okavango River forms the border between Namibia to the south and Angola to the north. In the upper left corner, dots of white and other bright colors near a road show rural settlements. (KARI/SEA) Every day, NASA's satellites capture awe-inspiring images of Earth from miles above our planet's surface. Depending on where the satellites fly, the photographs they send back may be of scenes as...

Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, originally is from Penngrove, Calif. She is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Stanford (Calif.) University and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Md. Mann is currently serving as an Integrated Product Team Lead at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River. (AP Photo/NASA) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has eight new astronauts - its first new batch in four years. Among the lucky candidates: the first female fighter...