Perseid Videos

Imagine cutting retractable doors in the side of a 747 airliner, installing a 17-ton telescope, and flying to the stratosphere to solve one of astronomy's greatest puzzles. That's what NASA and the German Aerospace Center plan to do with a cutting-edge airborne observatory named SOFIA. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

The argument that the Moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. At a press conference today, researchers revealed data from NASA's LCROSS mission indicating that water exists in a permanently shadowed lunar crater. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

On Monday, NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

The 2009 Leonid meteor shower peaks on Nov. 17th with a sprinkling of meteors over North America and a possible outburst over Asia. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

Long ago, something calamitous happened to Mars, transforming a hospitable world into the apparently lifeless desert we see today. Many scientists believe the Red Planet lost most of its atmosphere, but how? A new NASA mission named MAVEN is specifically designed to answer that question. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

The MESSENGER spacecraft's third flyby of the planet Mercury has given scientists an almost complete view of the planet's surface and revealed some dramatic changes in Mercury's comet-like tail. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

NASA's next Mars rover, a super-capable robot named Curiosity, will push Mars exploration to a new level. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

It might not be obvious to the naked eye, but the sun is a variable star. A sensor slated for launch onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory will probe the sun's sneaky variability with better time and spectral resolution than ever before. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

NASA is planning a mission to study the Moon's fragile atmosphere--before it's too late. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

Caused by debris from Halley's Comet, the 2009 Orionid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday, Oct. 21st, and forecasters say it could be an unusually good show. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

NASA's IBEX spacecraft has discovered a vast, glowing ribbon at the edge of the solar system. One mission scientist calls the discovery shocking and says theorists are working like crazy to explain the finding. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

How do you fly on a world with no atmosphere? Wings won't work and neither do propellers. The space agency is perfecting the art of airless flying using a prototype lunar lander at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

Just when you thought every big thing in the Solar System had already been discovered, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found an extraordinary new ring around Saturn. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

On Friday morning, Oct. 9th, you can watch a pair of spacecraft crash into the Moon with your own eyes. The purposeful impacts are the climax of NASA's LCROSS mission to unearth signs of water in lunar soil. Today's story tells how and where to look. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

NASA spacecraft are measuring record-high levels of cosmic rays--a side-effect of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. This development could have implications for the amount of shielding astronauts need to take when they explore deep space. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

Fresh meteorite impacts are exposing underground ice on Mars. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is beaming back must-see photos of the process at work. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

Using instruments on three separate spacecraft, scientists have discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the Moon. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is set to make its third and final flyby of the planet Mercury on Sept. 29th. The encounter is expected to produce hundreds of images of previously unseen terrain and confirm the strange elliptical shape of Mercury's equator. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

Using a colossal radio telescope in the Mojave Desert, school kids around the world are helping NASA track the LCROSS spacecraft as it heads for a crash landing on the Moon. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.

NASA is set to launch a sensitive new infrared telescope to seek out sneaky things in the night sky -- among them, dark asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story.