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Launch Into a New School Year With NASA
A new school year brings fresh opportunities to get involved with NASA. Whether you’re curious about space or eager to build real STEM skills, NASA offers a world of experiences putting you close to the action. As we enter a new golden age of exploration, there’s no better time to jump in, try something bold, and see where your curiosity takes you.
Gain Hands-On NASA ExperienceNASA opens the door to authentic mission experiences through internships and student challenges. As members of the NASA team, interns work on genuine agency projects and gain industry-ready skills, all with the guidance of NASA mentors. Visit NASA’s internships website to learn more about current vacancies, deadlines, eligibility requirements, and more.
Through NASA’s student challenges and competitions, student teams tackle some of the critical technical hurdles facing mission planners. Flex your innovative muscles and sharpen your collaborative and problem-solving skills while developing, prototyping, and testing your team’s designs. Check out the full list of NASA STEM challenges and opportunities, choose one that fits your interests, and assemble your team.
Students cross the finish line in their human-powered rover during the 2025 Human Exploration Rover Challenge at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AlabamaUSSRC/Emily Riddle Discover Technical Careers at NASA
The future of aerospace depends on a steady pipeline of skilled technical experts ready to make missions and ideas a reality. NASA invites students in high school, community college, and career technical education programs to join in-person and virtual events to explore these important career paths.
NASA Career Technical Education Days bring students on-site to meet NASA skilled technical workers who share what their jobs are like, how they built their careers, and the skills, training, and certifications that have helped them succeed. During NASA’s Next Gen STEM Virtual Career Connections , students interact live with technical experts supporting the agency’s missions. Students and teachers can learn more on the Next Gen STEM for Careers website.
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate invites you to help make real discoveries through science projects powered by volunteers. Join from anywhere, whenever it fits your schedule, and start working with authentic mission data. Help identify comets and asteroids, hunt for binary star systems, and more. Find the project that’s right for you on the list of current citizen science projects.
Keep Up With NASA Missions and DiscoveriesDon’t miss out on NASA’s biggest mission milestones this school year! Up first is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch no earlier than 7:20 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 30. This powerful new observatory has a field of view at least 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope. Be a virtual guest for launch and learn more about the telescope with fun activities provided by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. You can also sign up to be a virtual guest for NASA’s next crewed launch to the International Space Station, SpaceX Crew-13, set to launch in September.
And be sure to follow NASA’s continuing crew training and hardware preparations for Artemis III. Set to launch into Earth orbit in 2027, the flight will test rendezvous and docking capabilities with commercial human landing systems – landers that will carry astronauts to the lunar surface on Artemis IV and future missions to the Moon.
NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir answer questions inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module during a live downlink event in May 2026.NASA Stay Engaged With NASA
Schools, classrooms, and community-based student groups have further options to engage with NASA and its people. Through In-Flight STEM Downlinks, students have their pre-recorded questions answered live by astronauts aboard the International Space Station, demonstrating how STEM careers reach far beyond Earth. Additionally, the NASA Engages public outreach program connects agency experts with student audiences to share mission and science updates, helping people discover how NASA’s work unfolds and how they can be part of the journey.
This school year, whether you’re interested in aerospace jobs or eager to dive into authentic STEM challenges, you’ll find an array of activities and career exploration tools on NASA’s Learning Resources website. Explore exciting NASA student opportunities and subscribe to the weekly NASA EXPRESS email newsletter for the latest NASA STEM opportunities and updates!
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World ocean temperatures hit extreme new record for July
July also saw its second-highest air temperatures on record this year
How the ‘happy ending problem’ launched a new branch of math—and a romance
A puzzle about dots on a page led to one of the most profound areas of modern math
Sperm with DNA damage might be the true cause of repeated miscarriages
New guidelines say testing sperm for DNA damage could help explain recurrent pregnancy losses
Can ‘magic mushrooms’ help treat cocaine dependence?
Psychedelic-assisted therapy could open a new path for treating cocaine use disorder, which has no approved medications yet
SpaceX rocket crashes into the moon as cyberattacks hit U.S. water systems
Scientists analyze an accidental SpaceX impact on the moon as cyberattacks target U.S. water systems and a new mRNA flu vaccine is approved by the FDA
Ancient Maltese Seafarers Likely Navigated By The Stars
Ancient Maltese seafarers had both a complex cosmology and likely at least rudimentary skills in celestial navigation. It's thought that they used stars in the southern constellation of Crux to make their way around the south-central Mediterranean.
APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs
APOD
APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
UnlabeledLabeled Three Galaxy PairsExplanation: Each of these pairs of galaxies is different. The two galaxies at the top are likely not interacting, at least presently. However, the top galaxy with the blue stripe, NGC 4650A, is a polar ring galaxy and may be the result of a past galaxy collision. The two galaxies in the middle of the featured image appear like they could be interacting gravitationally — but their relative speeds make this unlikely. Of these two, the larger galaxy, NGC 4650, is a spiral galaxy with a bright bar of stars across its center. The two galaxies at the bottom are actively interacting. Possibly in a billion years or so, NGC 4622A and NGC 4622B will merge and become one single galaxy. All of these galaxies are likely members of the larger Centaurus Galaxy Cluster.
Tomorrow’s picture: many moons
Date: August 10, 2026 Credit & Copyright: Rafael Sampaio Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.
Random APOD Generator
Yesterday’s Image APOD: 2026 August 9 – Contemplating the Sun
Tomorrow’s Image
APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs
APOD
APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
UnlabeledLabeled Three Galaxy PairsExplanation: Each of these pairs of galaxies is different. The two galaxies at the top are likely not interacting, at least presently. However, the top galaxy with the blue stripe, NGC 4650A, is a polar ring galaxy and may be the result of a past galaxy collision. The two galaxies in the middle of the featured image appear like they could be interacting gravitationally — but their relative speeds make this unlikely. Of these two, the larger galaxy, NGC 4650, is a spiral galaxy with a bright bar of stars across its center. The two galaxies at the bottom are actively interacting. Possibly in a billion years or so, NGC 4622A and NGC 4622B will merge and become one single galaxy. All of these galaxies are likely members of the larger Centaurus Galaxy Cluster.
Tomorrow’s picture: many moons
Date: August 10, 2026 Credit & Copyright: Rafael Sampaio Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.
Random APOD Generator
Yesterday’s Image APOD: 2026 August 9 – Contemplating the Sun
Tomorrow’s Image
El Niño Alters Marine Life in the Pacific
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El Niño Alters Marine Life in the Pacific
- Earth
- Earth Observatory
- Image of the Day
- EO Explorer
- Topics
- More Content
- About
NASA's MAVEN Illuminates New Understanding of Auroras at Mars
NASA MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission scientists have uncovered a key puzzle piece in understanding certain types of auroras on Mars, finding that they form in a similar way to Earth-based auroras.
Europe's wildfires are igniting forgotten WWII and Cold War bombs
Europe is full of buried explosives left over from 20th century wars, and the continent’s wildfires are now big enough, hot enough and last long enough to reach them
How spaceflight changes astronauts' ability to eat and drink
If humans are to spend more time in space, scientists need to understand how life in microgravity affects eating and drinking
APOD: 2026 August 9 – Contemplating the Sun
APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Contemplating the Sun
Explanation: Have you contemplated your home star recently? Featured here, a Sun partially eclipsed on the top left by the Moon is also seen eclipsed by earthlings contemplating the eclipse below. This spectacular menagerie of silhouettes was taken in 2012 from the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area near Page, Arizona, USA, where park rangers and astronomers expounded on the unusual event to interested gatherers. Also, faintly visible on the Sun’s disk, just to the lower right of the dark Moon’s disk, is a group of sunspots. A new solar eclipse will occur this week and give many people in northeastern North America, Europe, and northwestern Africa a new chance to contemplate a partially eclipsed Sun. A thin swath of Earth from Greenland to Portugal will further experience a total solar eclipse. An open question is whether any meteors from the peaking Perseids will be visible during totality.
Date August 9, 2026 Credit & Copyright Steven Gilbert Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.
Random APOD Generator
Yesterday’s Image APOD: 2026 August 8 – A Messier Moment for Tempel 2
Tomorrow’s Image APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs
APOD: 2026 August 9 – Contemplating the Sun
APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Contemplating the SunExplanation: Have you contemplated your home star recently? Featured here, a Sun partially eclipsed on the top left by the Moon is also seen eclipsed by earthlings contemplating the eclipse below. This spectacular menagerie of silhouettes was taken in 2012 from the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area near Page, Arizona, USA, where park rangers and astronomers expounded on the unusual event to interested gatherers. Also, faintly visible on the Sun’s disk, just to the lower right of the dark Moon’s disk, is a group of sunspots. A new solar eclipse will occur this week and give many people in northeastern North America, Europe, and northwestern Africa a new chance to contemplate a partially eclipsed Sun. A thin swath of Earth from Greenland to Portugal will further experience a total solar eclipse. An open question is whether any meteors from the peaking Perseids will be visible during totality.
Date August 9, 2026 Credit & Copyright Steven Gilbert Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.
Random APOD Generator
Yesterday’s Image APOD: 2026 August 8 – A Messier Moment for Tempel 2
Tomorrow’s Image APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs
Hank Green AI controversy raises questions for science communicators
The backlash raises a bigger question for science communicators: Where should AI fit into their work?