An international team of astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has created the first three-dimensional map of the large-scale distribution of dark matter in the universe. The map stretches halfway back to the beginning of the universe and shows how dark matter has grown increasingly clumpy as it collapses under gravity. Image above: The top “sliced”... »

EVE: Measuring the Sun’s Hidden Variability 09.22.09 The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sun imaged by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) over one complete solar cycle. The sun changes more at EUV wavelengths than it does in any other part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Credit: NASA/SOHO The Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) has four primary... »

Overview Mars is a cold desert planet with no liquid water on its surface. But in the Martian arctic, water ice lurks just below ground level. Discoveries made by the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in 2002 show large amounts of subsurface water ice in the northern arctic plain. The Phoenix lander targets this circumpolar region using... »

Instruments on Phoenix Mars Lander 08.02.07 NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander uses its Meteorological Station and its Robotic Arm at the same time in this artist’s concept of the spacecraft on the surface of Mars. The other instruments in the spacecraft’s science payload are the Surface Stereoscopic Imager; the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer; the Thermal and Evolved-Gas... »

For some years now, dramatic before-and-after pictures have shown a decline in the glaciers on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. But now, researchers have combined those photographic surveys with actual measurements of the ice taken on the mountain. Satellite photos show snow and ice cover on Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1993 (top) and 2000 In a report published Tuesday,... »