Matt Matt Ginnow

07/04/2026

07/04/2026

21/01/2026

Matt Ginnow

The next full moon is tomorrow, Jan. 3.

Interested in what the Moon will look like any day of the year? Get the best views with our 2026 Moon Phases video!

Northern Hemisphere: https://youtu.be/u1oZ_2wMtzA
Southern Hemisphere: https://youtu.be/J40sjWID3e8

21/01/2026

Matt Ginnow

Have you tried baking cookies without flour, sugar, or butter?

It requires some inventiveness. Webb revealed rare dust created in a primitive cosmic kitchen that shows that the early universe shared bakers’ resilience. Sextans A is an early dwarf galaxy with very low metallicity (meaning low amount of elements heavier than hydrogen or and helium), so astronomers didn’t expect to find dust.

Planets are built from dust created by stars. Creating dust in Sextans A is like baking cookies without flour, butter, or sugar. The elements just aren't there. However, astronomers not only found dust, Webb showed that one of these stars used an entirely different recipe than usual to make that dust.

Webb also revealed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are complex, carbon-based molecules integrated in the smallest dust grains, that glow in infrared light. The discovery means Sextans A is now the lowest-metallicity galaxy ever found to contain PAHs.

Together, the results show that the early universe had more diverse dust production pathways than the more established and proven methods, like supernova explosions. Additionally, researchers now know there’s more dust than predicted at extremely low metallicities.

Because it is relatively close, Sextans A gives astronomers a rare chance to study individual stars and interstellar clouds under conditions similar to those shortly after the Big Bang.

Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/49o60LL

21/01/2026

Matt Ginnow

1.5 million names are flying around the Moon on Artemis II. Is yours one of them?

It's not too late to add your name to the mission—and it's absolutely free: https://go.nasa.gov/artemisnames

21/01/2026

Matt Ginnow

06/01/2026

Matt Ginnow
Matthew Ginnow

Matt Ginnow
Matthew Matt Ginnow

06/01/2026

Matt Ginnow
Matthew Ginnow

Matt Ginnow
Matthew Ginnow

24/12/2023

Matt Ginnow

Matthew Ginnow

Need a breather this holiday season? Take a break with us. “Space Out” with the soothing sights and sounds of the universe in our NASA+ playlist: https://plus.nasa.gov/playlist/holidays-in-space/