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US & Territories

<p>(This program is no longer available for streaming.) Jupiter is not just the oldest planet orbiting the sun—it’s also the largest. So when the young gas giant went on a rampage through the inner solar system, it shaped the fate of everything in its path. Speeding towards the Sun, Jupiter’s massive gravitational force hurled debris into interstellar space, stunting the growth of would-be planets. Earth might have been doomed had Saturn not pulled Jupiter back. Today, Jupiter resides in the outer solar system, where its gravity bends the paths of asteroids and stokes volcanic activity on its moon Io. But it could one day wreak havoc again. <b>(Premiered July 31, 2019).</b></p>

<p>Jupiter's massive gravitational force has made it both a wrecking ball and a protector of Earth.</p>

The Planets: Jupiter

<p>Rockets are becoming cheaper and more powerful than ever before thanks to stunning new technologies. As companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic make space more accessible, and NASA returns to crewed spaceflight, a new era of space exploration seems to be on the horizon. But will this seeming rocket Renaissance become more than just hype? NOVA explores the latest rocket technologies and the growing role private citizens may have in space. (Premiered February 13, 2019)</p>

<p>With new technologies, NASA and private companies are promising a new renaissance in space travel.</p>

Rise of the Rockets

<p></p><p>Black holes are the most enigmatic and exotic objects in the universe. They’re also the most powerful, with gravity so strong it can trap light. And they’re destructive, swallowing entire planets, even giant stars. Anything that falls into them vanishes…gone forever. Now, astrophysicists are realizing that black holes may be essential to how our universe evolved—their influence possibly leading to life on Earth and, ultimately, us. In this two-hour special, astrophysicist and author Janna Levin takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of black hole science. Along the way, we meet leading astronomers and physicists on the verge of finding new answers to provocative questions about these shadowy monsters: Where do they come from? What’s inside? What happens if you fall into one? And what can they tell us about the nature of space, time, and gravity? (Premiered January 10, 2018)</p>

<p>Take a mind-blowing voyage to the most powerful and mysterious objects in the universe.</p>

Black Hole Apocalypse

Viking

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A large sphere with varied blue and white bands fills most of the frame, with sections of its golden rings visible on either side

A false-color image of Saturn based on near-infrared data from the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited the planet for 13 years. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill

8 mind-blowing space documentaries to watch now on NOVA

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<p>For almost 50 years, NOVA has explored the cosmos, taking viewers across our solar system, into distant galaxies, and right up to the “edge” of a black hole. From a Mars rover swooping down to the red planet, to a probe’s daring encounter with an asteroid, we’ve followed NASA and other space missions as they’ve revealed the universe to humanity. Now we present a curated selection of space documentaries from the past five years so you can explore the universe alongside the scientists who make the journey possible.</p>
<h3>New Eye on the Universe (2023)</h3><p>In July 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released its first images, looking further back in time than ever before to show our universe in <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/how-nasa-colors-images-of-the-universe/">stunningly beautiful detail</a>. But that was just the beginning: With tons of new data and spectacular images flooding in, Webb is allowing scientists to peer deep in time to try to answer some of astronomy’s biggest questions. When—and how—did the first stars and galaxies form? And can we see the fingerprints of life in the atmospheres of distant worlds–or even within our own solar system?</p>
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<h3><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/star-chasers-of-senegal/"><b>Star Chasers of Senegal</b></a><b> (2023)</b></h3><p>A NASA spacecraft named <a href="/wgbh/nova/article/nasa-lucy-mission-trojan-asteroids/">Lucy blasts off</a> from Cape Canaveral on a mission to the Trojans, a group of asteroids over 400 million miles from Earth thought to hold important clues about the origins of our solar system. Just hours before, in Senegal, West Africa, a team of scientists sets out to capture extraordinarily precise observations vital to the success of the Lucy mission—crucial data needed to help NASA navigate Lucy to its asteroid targets across millions of miles of space. The team’s leader, Senegalese astronomer Maram Kaire, takes viewers on a journey to investigate his nation’s rich and <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/how-to-calculate-time-with-an-islamic-astrolabe/">deep history of astronomy</a>, reaching back <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/these-ancient-stones-helped-track-seasons/">thousands of years</a>—and the promising future ahead.</p>
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<h3>Ultimate Space Telescope (2022)</h3><p>How did NASA engineers build and launch the most ambitious telescope of all time? Follow the dramatic story of the James Webb Space Telescope—the most complex machine ever launched into space. If it works, scientists believe that this new eye on the universe will <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/nasa-reacts-to-the-james-webb-space-telescope-images/">peer deeper back in time and space</a> than ever before to the birth of galaxies, and may even be able to “sniff” the atmospheres of exoplanets as we search for signs of life beyond Earth. But getting it to work is no easy task. The telescope is far bigger than its predecessor, the famous <a href="/wgbh/nova/article/hubble-space-telescope-best-images/">Hubble Space Telescope</a>, and it needs to make its observations a million miles away from Earth—so there will be no chance to go out and fix it. That means there’s no room for error; the most ambitious telescope ever built needs to work perfectly. Meet the engineers making it happen and join them on their high stakes journey to uncover new secrets of the universe. </p>
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<h3><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/nova-universe-revealed-alien-worlds/"><b>NOVA Universe Revealed: Alien Worlds</b></a><b> (2021)</b></h3><p>In the five-part series <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/series/nova-universe-revealed/">NOVA Universe Revealed</a>, we delve into the vastness of space to capture moments of high drama when the universe changed forever. In this episode, we tackle an age-old question: Are we alone? Or do other lifeforms and intelligences thrive on worlds far beyond our own? Ultra-sensitive telescopes and dogged detective work are transforming <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/how-to-find-an-exoplanet/">alien planet-hunting</a> from science fiction into hard fact. Join NOVA on a visit to exotic worlds <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/planets-two-stars/">orbiting distant suns</a>, from puffy planets with the density of Styrofoam to thousand-degree, broiling gas giants. Most tantalizing of all are the Super-Earths in the “Goldilocks zone,” just the right distance from their sun to support life, and with one of them signaling life’s essential ingredient, water, in its atmosphere. Are we on the brink of answering that haunting question?</p>
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<h3>Looking For Life on Mars (2021)</h3><p>Follow along as NASA launches the Mars 2020 Mission, perhaps the most ambitious hunt yet for <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/nasa-mars-perseverance/">signs of ancient life</a> on Mars. In February 2021, the spacecraft blazes into the Martian atmosphere at some 12,000 miles per hour and lowers the Perseverance Rover into the rocky Jezero Crater, home to a dried-up river delta scientists think could have harbored life. Perseverance will comb the area for signs of life and collect samples for possible return to Earth. Traveling onboard is a four-pound helicopter that will conduct a <a href="/wgbh/nova/article/nasa-ingenuity-first-powered-flight-mars/">series of test flights</a>—the first on another planet. During its journey, Perseverance will also test technology designed to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, in hopes that the gas could be used for fuel—or for humans to breathe—on future missions.</p>
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<h3><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/touching-the-asteroid/"><b>Touching the Asteroid</b></a><b> (2020) </b></h3><p>In October 2020, a NASA spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx attempts to reach out and <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/inside-osiris-rexs-mission-to-tag-asteroid-bennu/">grab a piece of an asteroid</a> named Bennu to bring it back to Earth. The OSIRIS-REx team has just three chances to extend its spacecraft’s specialized arm, touch down for five seconds, and collect material from the surface of Bennu. But if they can pull it off, scientists could gain great insight into Earth’s own origins—and even learn to defend against rogue asteroids that may one day threaten our planet.</p>
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<h3><a href="/wgbh/nova/video/back-to-the-moon/"><b>Back to the Moon</b></a> (2019)</h3><p>On the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, NOVA looks ahead to the hoped-for dawn of a new age in lunar exploration. This time, governments and private industry are working together to reach our nearest celestial neighbor. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/moon-water-human-space-exploration/">But why go back?</a> The Moon can serve as a platform for basic astronomical research; as an abundant source of rare metals and hydrogen fuel; and ultimately as a stepping stone for human missions to Mars and beyond. Join the next generation of engineers that aim to take us to the Moon, and discover how our legacy of lunar exploration won't be confined to the history books for long.</p>
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<h3>Black Hole Apocalypse (2018)</h3><p>Black holes are the most enigmatic and exotic objects in the universe. They’re also the most powerful, with gravity so strong it can trap light. And they’re destructive, swallowing entire planets, even giant stars. Anything that <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/whats-inside-a-black-hole/">falls into them</a> vanishes…gone forever. Now, astrophysicists are realizing that black holes may be essential to how our universe evolved—their influence possibly leading to life on Earth and, ultimately, us. In this two-hour special, astrophysicist and author Janna Levin takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of black hole science. Along the way, we meet leading astronomers and physicists on the verge of finding new answers to provocative questions about these shadowy monsters: Where do they come from? What’s inside? <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/take-a-ride-into-a-supermassive-black-hole/">What happens if you fall into one?</a> And what can they tell us about the nature of space, time, and gravity?</p>
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<p data-block-key="z1ikv">Check out some of NOVA’s best space documentaries available for streaming.</p>

JWST Searches for Life in Our Solar System

<p data-block-key="w6hv3">Can NASA’s most powerful telescope detect key ingredients for life as we know it?</p>
<p data-block-key="rgpfc">There are three places in our solar system, beyond Earth, that are good candidates to look for life: Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, Enceladus, and Titan, two of Saturn’s moons.</p>
<p data-block-key="88fvn"><b>JWST Searches for Life in Our Solar System</b></p><p data-block-key="9s282">Published March 2, 20223</p><p data-block-key="6r06n"></p><p data-block-key="ap124"><b>Narrator:</b> JWST is also looking for the chemical building blocks of life, much closer to home, in our cosmic backyard.</p><p data-block-key="ddkii"><b>Naomi Rowe-Gurney:</b> The one big question I want this telescope to answer is if there is life in our own solar system. If we found it in our own solar system, it would really hit home that it’s not so rare that life can happen.</p><p data-block-key="8ukg2"><b>Jonathan Lunine:</b> There are three places in our solar system, beyond the Earth and beyond Mars, which are good candidates to go look for life. And those are Europa, around Jupiter, and the moons of Saturn, Enceladus and Titan.</p><p data-block-key="57v9e"><b>Naomi Rowe-Gurney:</b> Titan is a really exciting moon, because it has an atmosphere and rivers and streams and lakes and oceans. But instead of being made of water, like they are on Earth, they’re made of methane, like liquid methane. And so, it has a water cycle like we have on Earth, but it’s a methane cycle. And that’s really exciting for scientists, because if we find life on Titan, it’s not going to be life like it is on Earth, it’s going to be totally different life. So, that’s a really exciting thing to be looking for. But also, how do you look for life that you don’t understand? So, it’s also a massive challenge.</p><p data-block-key="558jj"><b>Jonathan Lunine:</b> So, the question comes up, can life evolve from chemistry in a liquid medium that’s not water, that doesn’t have the polar properties of water? And the answer is we don’t know.</p><p data-block-key="27aes"><b>Narrator:</b> Researchers are also on the hunt for the ingredients for life as we know it, on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, and Europa, a moon of Jupiter.</p><p data-block-key="d1bh9"><b>Jonathan Lunine:</b> Those are what are called ocean worlds, which means that they have liquid water in their interiors.</p><p data-block-key="aca2q"><b>Geronimo Villanueva:</b> Imagine that there are, is a big body of water below the surface, protected from the environment…</p><p data-block-key="apqmb"><b>Naomi Rowe-Gurney:</b> Where there could be this subsurface ocean, where there could be hydrothermal vents, just like the ones that we have on Earth, which have life like plants and animals.</p><p data-block-key="962cd"><b>Geronimo Villanueva:</b> …full of organics, maybe some energy, internal energy, heat energy, and you have the soup of life. We don’t know what’s happening there but it’s definitely a place that has all the right conditions for us to explore.</p><p data-block-key="2jt76"><b>Jonathan Lunine:</b> Some biochemists have suggested that it’s in environments like this where life might’ve got going billions of years ago on the Earth.</p><p data-block-key="8ljom"><b>Naomi Rowe-Gurney:</b> That would be amazing to find, even if we just found bacteria, that would be amazing.</p><p data-block-key="e6cr0"><b>Narrator:</b> Back in 2015, the Cassini mission studied Saturn, its rings and moons, and captured this image of plumes bursting out of the ice at Enceladus’s southern pole.</p><p data-block-key="1rc86"><b>Carolyn Porco:</b> We saw dozens of fine jets shooting off the south pole of Enceladus. When these pictures hit the web, the web exploded.</p><p data-block-key="963n"><b>Hakeem Oluseyi:</b> And so, we see with Enceladus, there are places where the ocean actually escapes from the surface. And it just flows out of these cracks and bursts out into outer space.</p><p data-block-key="8sjhr"><b>Carolyn Porco:</b> So, this is, in effect, our best opportunity to study an extraterrestrial habitable zone.</p><p data-block-key="84f82"><b>Narrator:</b> The same may be true for Jupiter’s moon Europa, covered with cracks and ridges that could be caused by the heat of an ocean beneath its icy surface.</p><p data-block-key="eqgmr"><b>Naomi Rowe-Gurney:</b> So, we’ll be looking for water signatures, so, H2O, the same water like we have on Earth. And we’ll also be looking for things like methane, which can be a chemical tracer that gives us an inclination that there might be something alive. Bacteria on Earth produces methane. We probably won’t directly image life, because you can’t really image bacteria from a telescope, but you can look at what the bacteria creates.</p><p data-block-key="ais6f"><b>Narrator:</b> When it comes to the search for the chemical building blocks of life, in our own solar system, JWST’s observations of Enceladus and Europa are finally in.</p><p data-block-key="bl3dl"><b>Naomi Rowe-Gurney:</b> I was wondering about this, by the way.</p><p data-block-key="9sj4f"><b>Narrator:</b> And researchers have begun to analyze their data, pixel by pixel, creating these chemical maps of two mysterious worlds. When it comes to the plumes of Enceladus, they see something downright bizarre.</p><p data-block-key="3n9de"><b>Geronimo Villanueva:</b> We saw this huge plume, which extends 40 times the size of the moon.</p><p data-block-key="48ksb"><b>Narrator:</b> To put this in perspective, this red pixel is about the size of Enceladus.</p><p data-block-key="7q7ug"><b>Geronimo Villanueva:</b> The moon is within a pixel. A pixel is actually bigger than the moon.</p><p data-block-key="7ji8g"><b>Narrator:</b> The blue pixels around it: water pouring out of the plumes.</p><p data-block-key="bmf41"><b>Geronimo Villanueva:</b> This cannot be right. This is too big. This is too big, compared to the moon.</p><p data-block-key="eaf4u"><b>Narrator:</b> And this massive plume may be chock full of clues to the chemical building blocks of life in its underground ocean.</p><p data-block-key="2jr0c"><b>Geronimo Villanueva:</b> We can look for carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide. For every single pixel that we had, we actually had a full spectrum behind it.</p><p data-block-key="2na8n"><b>Narrator:</b> Europa also delivers a surprise. It turns out that its surface is far more complex than the team expected.</p><p data-block-key="adap5"><b>Naomi Rowe-Gurney:</b> So, this is on the surface?</p><p data-block-key="1ve47"><b>Geronimo Villanueva:</b> This is on the surface. We’re seeing all this surface composition speaking to us, and we have a spectra for every single of these pixels, so we can actually see what it’s made of. So, I think this data is going to be super cool. We are seeing things on the surface we’ve never seen before. We can see the ices changing, and new ice’s signatures we were not expecting. You just have to go and mine it and search for it. If you don’t search for it, you don’t know. So, our exploration has been just slowly going molecule by molecule, but there are hundreds of other molecules or ices that may be hidden below, behind every pixel.</p><p data-block-key="cgb6q"><b>Narrator:</b> Geronimo Villanueva and his team will spend the next few months poring over those pixels, hunting for the chemical building blocks of life on Europa and Enceladus.</p>




<p data-block-key="w6hv3">Can NASA’s most powerful telescope detect key ingredients for life as we know it?</p>

How NASA Colors Images of the Universe

<p data-block-key="ughs1">Data image developers combine science and art to bring color to JWST&#x27;s images.</p>
<p data-block-key="0j555">The James Webb Space Telescope detects infrared light, which our eyes can’t see. Data image developers bring those observations into the visible light spectrum, where they take on the colors of the rainbow.</p>
<p data-block-key="p6ms9"><b>How NASA Colors Images of the Universe</b></p><p data-block-key="1i5id">Published February 23, 2023</p><p data-block-key="eeo90"></p><p data-block-key="1li32"><b>AARON EVANS:</b> Every time you get this new image, it’s just like unwrapping a present to, basically, see what there is to see. So, it’s a pretty exciting experience.</p><p data-block-key="2lhrl"><b>NARRATOR:</b> But before we get the chance to appreciate these mesmerizing images, they need to be tweaked.</p><p data-block-key="1eq3h"><b>AMBER STRAUGHN:</b> The human eye can only see a very narrow part of the spectrum. You know, your blue to red, but there’s light on either of the other sides of that spectrum. And of course, J.W.S.T. is infrared, so it’s on the red side of light.</p><p data-block-key="efpdd"><b>JOSEPH DE PASQUALE</b> (Senior Science Visuals Developer, Space Telescope Science Institute)<b>:</b> Right, so Webb is an infrared telescope, so it’s sensitive to light that is beyond what our eyes can see. So, that’s two layers of adjustments.</p><p data-block-key="90aqm"><b>NARRATOR:</b> It’s the job of the data image developer, part science geek, part artist, to take this invisible infrared light and translate it into colors our eyes can see. J.W.S.T. takes multiple images of the same celestial object, with different infrared filters, represented here in black and white.</p><p data-block-key="7lta2"><b>JOSEPH DE PASQUALE:</b> We’ve taken light of different infrared wavelengths and split it up. And so, there’s long wavelength infrared, medium wavelengths, but a little bit shorter and then shorter wavelengths.</p><p data-block-key="4omqj"><b>NARRATOR:</b> Now, those infrared waves are translated into the colors of the rainbow.</p><p data-block-key="478ik"><b>JOSEPH DE PASQUALE:</b> We try to adhere to a philosophy of colorizing the data that we call “chromatic ordering.”</p><p data-block-key="9j9k"><b>ALYSSA PAGAN</b> (Science Visuals Developer, Space Telescope Science Institute)<b>:</b> We’re capturing these wavelengths in infrared light, and we’re shifting them into the visible part of the spectrum. And we are assigning color that represent shorter to longer wavelengths, just like we would see them.</p><p data-block-key="aq3at"><b>NARRATOR:</b> Think of it like a song played on a piano, transposed so we’re hearing it in a different key, but it’s still the same song.</p><p data-block-key="avnju"><b>JOSEPH DE PASQUALE:</b> So the longest wavelength is going to be red, so I will make that red. The next longest wavelength, I’ll assign that green. And then the shortest wavelength, and that’ll be blue. In this case, we actually have four filters, one of them is a narrowband filter that is really isolating a very specific kind of light. And that one, we color orange. So, after pulling everything together, I see that the initial color composite image, here, and it’s really interesting, there’s a lot of potential here, but I also see that it’s very flat, and it needs some, some compositional work.</p><p data-block-key="32pqm"><b>ALYSSA PAGAN:</b> And then this, where it kind of goes into the subjective and more into the artistic.</p><p data-block-key="etifk"><b>JOSEPH DE PASQUALE:</b> The stars can look very different; the quality of the nebula can look very different. There isn’t really, like, a hard point, where it becomes, you know, going from science to art. It’s sort of the whole process. The science is always there. We’re always respecting the data. We’re not trying to introduce things that weren’t there in the data to begin with, and we’re not trying to remove things that are there. So, the whole goal of this is to create an aesthetically pleasing image that will capture someone’s attention and hopefully inspire them to want to learn more about this region in space.</p>




<p data-block-key="ughs1">Data image developers combine science and art to bring color to JWST&#x27;s images.</p>

Bright stars in a royal blue triangular opening in deep red and purple dust clouds.

The Tarantula Nebula’s chemical composition is remarkably like the conditions in the Milky Way billions of years ago, during peak star formation. This composite of X-ray and infrared observations uses chromatic ordering to show both supernova explosion remnants (royal blue and purple) and clouds of gas (red and orange). Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JWST ERO Production Team

How NASA makes those spectacular space images

<div class="related"></div>
<p>Over the past year, we’ve seen some of the most <a href="/wgbh/nova/video/how-scientists-created-the-james-webb-telescopes-first-test-image/">spectacular images</a> of space yet, courtesy of the new <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/ultimate-space-telescope/">James Webb Space Telescope</a> (JWST). But JWST only observes infrared light, which has wavelengths longer than the human eye can see. So how do NASA’s data image developers turn those observations into colorful, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/james-webb-space-telescope-first-images-nasa/">awe-inspiring images</a>? The trick is in “chromatic ordering,” shifting those wavelengths down the spectrum, just as a musician might play a piece of music in a different key. That means keeping the differences <i>between</i> the wavelengths consistent but moving them into the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see. </p><p>When that transfer is complete and the images combined, the result is a style that visuals developers like Joe DePasquale of the Space Telescope Science Institute call “representative color”: an image that is aesthetically pleasing and also essentially a data visualization. One reason JWST records particular wavelengths of light is because they can indicate the presence of specific elements. Because these images are created using chromatic ordering, it’s possible to “read” them a bit like a map: a red area is rich in hydrogen or sulfur, while blue contains oxygen.</p><p><b>New Eye on the Universe, premiering February 22 at 9 pm on PBS:</b></p>
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<p>Some shades might look muddy next to one another or create an image that’s too bright, almost lurid, so DePasquale might make an adjustment, or raise the contrast to make the colors pop. Still, in every stage of the process, “we’re always respecting the data,” <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/new-eye-on-the-universe/">he told NOVA</a>. “We're not trying to introduce things that weren't there in the data to begin with, and we're not trying to remove things that are there.” </p><p>Here are just a few examples of the beautiful images created from the observations of the most powerful space telescope humanity has ever built—with a little help from chromatic ordering.</p>
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<img alt="A gauzy pale blue cloud against the night sky, orange and white stars at the lower left" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/molecular_cloud.width-990.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and M. Zamani (ESA).</p>
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<p><b>Molecular Cloud</b></p><p>This moody watercolor-like image shows what’s called a molecular cloud, where stars and planets are born. The remarkable thing about this cloud is that it’s so cold that many different kinds of molecules are frozen and suspended within it—not just water, but also more complicated molecules like methane and ammonia. These molecules were detectable thanks to light from the background stars shining through the cloud.</p>
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<img alt="Two merging galaxies form a white and red bean-like shape against a black sky. The cores of the galaxies are colored blue, and one is above and to the left of the other." class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/galaxies_merging.width-990.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA &amp; CSA, L. Armus, A. Evan</p>
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<p><b>Merging Galaxies</b></p><p>This pair of merging galaxies, known as II ZW 96, was chosen as a target to help test JWST because it’s so bright at infrared wavelengths. This image shows how the gravity of the merger is slowly twisting both galaxies out of shape, their luminous cores connected by bright tendrils of star-forming regions.</p>
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<img alt="A glowing white ball with a few extra bright spots and thin luminescent rings against a black background" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/Neptune_rings.width-990.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI</p>
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<p><b>Neptune's Rings</b></p><p>This image of Neptune represents our clearest view of the planet's rings since Voyager 2’s flyby in 1989. The telescope’s near-infrared camera gives us amazing detail, showing both the brighter, stronger belts and more subtle bands of dust. This view of Neptune is also unique because the planet’s methane gas registers very dark in infrared, rather than the cool blue we often see, and is broken up by high-altitude methane-ice clouds which reflect sunlight and appear bright white. </p>
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<img alt="Gray cobweb-like formations form a spiral against a black background with blue and red dots throughout" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/Galaxy_IC_5332jpg.width-990.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA &amp; CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST and PHANGS-HST Teams<br/> </p>
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<p><b>Galaxy IC 5332</b></p><p>Here, we see the “bones” of galaxy IC 5332, a structure that is cloaked in dust. But by observing in mid-infrared light, JWST can look <i>through</i> that dust to see the fingers of gas fanning out within IC 5332. The telescope’s specialized mid-infrared instrument must be kept much colder than its other sensors—only a few degrees above absolute zero. </p>
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<img alt="A detailed spiral galaxy against a crowded field of galaxies interspersed with bright 8-pointed stars on a dark background." class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/LEDA_2046648_Galaxy.width-990.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA and CSA, A. Martel</p>
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<p><b>Galaxy Field</b></p><p>This photo was taken during JWST’s calibration phase, to test the telescope’s ability to find the most ancient galaxies. It was designed specially to find galaxies that are so far away that, as their light travels toward us and the universe expands, that light has been stretched all the way into the infrared range. Those more orange-red galaxies can be compared to LEDA 2046648, the spiral galaxy toward the bottom of the image. Even at a billion light years away it is closer to Earth.</p>
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<p data-block-key="r128x">The James Webb Space Telescope only captures infrared light, but imaging developers can convert the invisible into something both beautiful and scientifically accurate.</p>

NASA https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/apollo-astronaut-walter-cunningham-dies-at-90

Astronaut Walter Cunningham on the Historic Apollo 7 Mission

<p data-block-key="u84ib">He discussed the first crewed Apollo mission, Apollo 7, with NOVA in 1998.</p>

General - US & Territories

The Southern Ring Nebula, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

New Eye on the Universe

<p data-block-key="75244">See the latest stunning images and discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope.</p>

A giant pink circle with a bright center and "spokes" out to its outer edges against a black sky

The Cartwheel galaxy (right) was formed as the result of a high-speed collision about 400 million years ago. This composite image brings together observations from JWST's infrared instruments. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The top science stories of 2022

<p>As of 2022, you share this planet with 8 billion people (and about <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/science-and-technology/2022/09/21/the-number-of-ants-on-earth-has-a-mass-greater-than-all-birds-and-mammals-combined">20 quadrillion ants</a>). </p><p>It’s not just population growth that made this year remarkable. From January to December, scientists have launched revolutionary space missions, wrangled new viral outbreaks, discovered old DNA, and even taken a step towards <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/scientists-make-breakthrough-in-nuclear-fusion/">harnessing nuclear fusion</a>. Explore the science that made headlines throughout 2022.</p>
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<h3><b>Tonga volcano eruption</b></h3><p>Just off the island nation of Tonga in the South Pacific, a mostly underwater volcano called Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai quite literally rocked the world when it erupted on January 15.</p><p>Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai’s eruption was one of the <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/scientists-unravel-how-the-tonga-volcano-caused-worldwide-tsunamis-20220413/">most powerful on record</a>—hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149367/dramatic-changes-at-hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai">NASA reported</a>, and the largest explosion of any kind in the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/asia/tonga-eruption-biggest-in-more-a-century-scn/index.html">last 140 years</a>. Its roar was heard nearly 6,000 miles away in Alaska, and the eruption triggered tsunamis that reached Tonga, nearby Fiji, and far-off locations like Japan, Russia, Peru, and the United States. The volcano’s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hunga-tonga-volcano-eruption-education/">unique position</a> may help explain why this particular eruption created such a violent shockwave. But the full implications of the explosion for future volcanic events <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/tonga-eruption-blasted-unprecedented-amount-of-water-into-stratosphere">are still being studied.</a></p>
<h3><b>Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance is found after 106 years</b></h3><p>In December 1914, British explorer Ernest Shackleton led a crew of 27 men aboard two ships, Endurance and Aurora, on an expedition to Antarctica. The goal was to complete the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. But in January 1915, the Endurance became trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea before reaching land.</p><p>For nine months, Shackleton and his crew tried to break the ship free. But their efforts were unsuccessful, and Endurance was gradually crushed by the shifting ice. In October 1915, Shackleton ordered his crew to abandon the ship, and a month later Endurance slipped beneath the surface, not to be seen again. Until this year.</p>
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<img alt="Black and white photo of a three-masted ship trapped in ice, with huge ice chunks in foreground" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/Shackeltons_Endurance.width-990.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>A distant view of the Endurance trapped in an ice floe. Image Credit: James Francis Hurley via National Maritime Museum, Wikimedia Commons</p>
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<p>On February 5, an expedition called Endurance22 set off from Cape Town, South Africa, in search of Shackleton’s long-lost ship. And on March 5, some 106 years after it was lost, Endurance was found. Using sonar, the team spotted the sunken ship just four miles south of where the original captain, Frank Worsley, had said it was in 1915, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/1085432575/endurance-ship-found-ernest-shackleton">NPR reported</a>. Shockingly well-preserved, Endurance had “hardly anything living on it,” and some of its original paint still intact, Endurance22 expedition leader John Shears told NPR. “It’s as if it sank only yesterday,” Shears said. The Endurance will stay in the Weddell Sea, protected as a historical site under the Antarctic Treaty.</p>
<h3><b>First images from James Webb Space Telescope</b></h3><p>Of NASA's many successful endeavors this year, the images taken by the agency's <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/ultimate-space-telescope/">James Webb Space Telescope</a> (JWST) are perhaps the most awe-inspiring (Have you seen JWST's image of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/new-webb-image-captures-clearest-view-of-neptune-s-rings-in-decades">Neptune's rings</a>? Tell me that doesn’t leave you awestruck.) </p><p>JWST launched at the end of 2021 and gradually unfolded, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/how-scientists-created-the-james-webb-telescopes-first-test-image/">aligning 18 segments</a> of its massive, gilded mirror before getting to work. A month after its launch, the telescope was already a million miles from Earth. And in July, NASA began to unveil <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/james-webb-space-telescope-first-images-nasa/">stunning images</a> of stars and faraway nebulas in greater clarity than its predecessor, Hubble. JWST has also managed to capture galaxies <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/12/09/nasas-webb-reaches-new-milestone-in-quest-for-distant-galaxies/">never before seen</a> by scientists, breaking the record for the most distant galaxy ever detected.</p>
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<img alt='Reddish brown swath at the bottom appears like mountains below a blue, starry "sky" above' class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/Carina_Nebula.width-990.png"/>
<figcaption><p>"Cosmic Cliffs" in the Carina Nebula, as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI </p>
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<p>In the coming years, the telescope's data will help scientists understand the evolution of stars and planets, since its infrared instruments can peer through dense dust clouds where star and planet formation begins. "The great thing, really, is that this is just the beginning," Stefanie Milam, deputy project scientist on JWST, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOiGZZ9LU0I&amp;t=143s">told NOVA</a>. "We'll be able to go much, much deeper, and this telescope is going to do what we designed it to do."</p>
<h3><b>Mpox (monkeypox) outbreak</b></h3><p>Mpox, previously referred to as monkeypox, emerged in the U.S. and several other countries where it is not endemic in May. Although the disease—which presents as a painful rash, followed by flu-like symptoms—was first identified in humans in 1970, mpox was fairly unknown to the American public before this year's outbreak. Mpox spread quickly and peaked in early August, with hundreds of cases being reported per day. Around that time, the Department of Health and Human Services declared the disease a public health emergency and authorized the emergency use of mpox vaccines. </p><p>Data suggest that mpox transmission most often occurs through sexual activity or contact with open wounds or mucous membranes, like the eyes and mouth. While anyone can transmit the disease, there was a prevalence in cases among men who have sex with men (MSM). Many public health campaigns encouraged MSM in particular to get vaccinated, and as of this month, 1.1 million people have been vaccinated against mpox in the U.S.</p><p>By late September 2022, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/08/26/1119659681/early-signs-suggest-monkeypox-may-be-slowing-in-the-u-s">NPR reported</a> that New York City, San Francisco, Houston, and Chicago—all cities with high rates of infection—had begun to see a decline in cases, though not particularly correlated with vaccination rates. The CDC announced in a November report a highly confident assessment that “the overall incidence of monkeypox in the United States is declining.” And in December, the Department of Health and Human Services announced mpox will not be renewed as a public health emergency in 2023.</p>
<h3><b>DART Mission deflects an asteroid</b></h3><p>In 2021, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/nasa-dart-deflect-hazardous-asteroid-didymos/">NASA launched</a> its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on a mission to test whether scientists could possibly deflect asteroids at risk of colliding with Earth.</p>
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<p>In the first-ever “full scale planetary defense test,” the DART spacecraft set out to knock Dimorphos—a 525-foot asteroid “moonlet” that circles a larger asteroid called Didymos—off track. The spacecraft <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/nasa-dart-asteroid-impact/">slammed into its target</a> in September 2022, but it wasn’t until October that scientists determined that the DART mission was, in fact, a smashing success. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/watch-dart-spacecraft-smash-into-asteroid/">The spacecraft’s impact</a> nudged the moon closer to Didymos, shortening its nearly 12-hour orbital period by 32 minutes, <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/nasa-test-mission-successfully-deflects-asteroid">Science reported</a>. While neither Didymos nor Dimorphos pose any risk to Earth, DART is proof that if Earth were to be threatened by an asteroid, humans may actually be able to something about it.</p>
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<h3><b>Dropping water levels reveal dinosaur tracks, Nazi warships, human remains and more</b></h3><p>The blistering summer of 2022 saw drought from Asia to Europe to North America. And while people may have anticipated a water shortage, few could predict what would be revealed when water levels dropped. </p><p>Spotting dinosaur tracks in Texas’ Dinosaur State Valley Park may not seem surprising. But scientists and park rangers were fascinated to find sets of tracks usually obscured by water suddenly exposed when the park’s Paluxy River dried up <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/drought-exposes-dinosaur-tracks-in-texas-180980647/">in August</a>. The footprints, estimated to be 113 million years old, were left deep in the sediment by the carnivorous <i>Acrocanthosaurus,</i> a two-legged dinosaur that weighed up to 7 tons and stood around 15 feet tall. </p><p>Just 1,200 miles away in Nevada, Lake Mead revealed its own <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/12/us/lake-mead-drought-shoreline-discoveries-climate-ctpr/">hidden secrets</a>. Along with long-sunken boats, a total of six sets of human remains—one of which was discovered <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/02/1096049180/a-barrel-containing-a-body-was-exposed-as-the-level-of-nevadas-lake-mead-drops">inside a barrel</a>—were found as the lake’s levels dropped. This year, Lake Mead hit its lowest levels since 1937, continuing a 22-year long downward trend, <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150111/lake-mead-keeps-dropping">NASA reports</a>. “There’s no telling what we’ll find in Lake Mead,” former Las Vegas mayor and defense attorney Oscar Goodman said in May. “It’s not a bad place to dump a body,” he added, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/officials-prep-for-gruesome-surprises-as-las-vegas-lake-slowly-dries-up">according to PBS NewsHour</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A speedboat sticks straight up out of a dried lakebed, with brown, dry hills in the background" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/Lake_Mead_drought.width-990.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>A once-submerged speedboat juts out from the dry lakebed of Lake Mead in June 2022. Image Credit: James Marvin Phelps, Flickr</p>
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<p>Regional drought and a heatwave in southwestern China led to a rapid water level drop in the country’s massive Yangtze River, revealing a small island and three previously submerged Buddhist statues. The statues are thought to be 600 years old. While the artifacts are exciting, this historic drought—and those expected in summers to come—threatens the livelihood of some 400 million people who depend on the Yangtze River for water.</p><p>But the largest, and perhaps the most dangerous, of these drought discoveries was in Europe. This summer, the Danube River was at its lowest levels in almost a century. Out from the shrinking waters along eastern Serbia emerged dozens of sunken German WWII ships, each covered in tons of ammunition and explosives. The explosives on the ships pose a major ecological and safety risk to the fishing and coal shipping industries operating within the Danube, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/low-water-levels-danube-reveal-sunken-ww2-german-warships-2022-08-19/">Reuters reported</a>.<br/><br/>This summer’s drought, and the strange items it brought to light, foreshadow a larger problem to come with climate change. And in colder climes, melting permafrost is also revealing long-unseen entities, though <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-revive-48500-year-old-virus-setting-world-record-180981208/">not all of them</a> are as exciting as dinosaur tracks.</p>
<h3><b>Artemis 1 kicks off a new lunar program </b></h3><p>This year, NASA's much-anticipated <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/artemis-launch-nasa-sls-orion-moon/">Artemis I mission finally took off</a>. Following months of postponements, fuel leaks, and hurricanes, NASA launched the world's most powerful rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on November 16. Artemis I is the first mission in the Artemis program, which aims to put a crew on the Moon. The inaugural mission, which was uncrewed, was intended to test the massive SLS rocket and the Orion crew capsule. </p><p>Once launched, Orion spent 25.5 days zooming well past the Moon and looping back to Earth. The spacecraft <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/artemis-launch-nasa-sls-orion-moon/">splashed down</a> in the Pacific Ocean on December 11. Now begins NASA's post-flight analysis, which will help reveal just what’s possible in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/why-nasa-is-going-back-to-the-moon/">this new chapter</a> of space exploration.</p>
<h3><b>Oldest DNA ever found</b></h3><p>Last but not least came a breakthrough just before the end of year. On December 7, scientists announced the remarkable discovery of <a href="https://youtu.be/JS0Cn-bDuKs">the oldest DNA to date</a>. The DNA, retrieved from the sediment cores at the northern edge of Greenland, is a whopping 2 million years old. It reveals stunning information about the plants and animals that once inhabited the Arctic, which was once a lush, green landscape. </p><p>The finding, experts say, could not only <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/oldest-dna-study-nature/">revolutionize paleontology</a>, opening new windows onto ancient worlds, but also help us better understand how species adapted to a warming world in the past. “It's as though we really do have a time machine in a way that we never expected,” said Ross MacPhee, senior curator at the American Museum of Natural History.</p><h4>OLDEST DNA EVER FOUND REVEALS SECRETS OF THE ANCIENT ARCTIC:</h4>
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<p data-block-key="ie61a">NASA nudges an asteroid, weird things emerge from water, and scientists tackle a new epidemic.</p>

Topic: Space & Flight

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