2025 NASA Science Calendar

Cover image of the 2025 NASA Science calendar. This illustration depicts a cutaway of an ocean wave in sunset colors of pinks, blues, and purples. The wave sweeps up to the right, following the motion of luminescent pink, golden auroras on the horizon. The auroras curve upward through the sky, meeting up with a large bluish/purplish spiral galaxy in the upper left. On the far side of the galaxy is an exoplanet system and distant deep field galaxies. On the auroral path is Earth’s Moon, the asteroid Bennu, Mars, and Europa - all bodies in our solar system where water has been found. Above the horizon, the international space station hovers in the sky, while the Europa Clipper mission hovers near Jupiter’s icy moon. Molecular structures drift up from the ocean’s depths, becoming constellations once they reach the sky. They follow the auroras upward toward the galaxy, connecting life to the stars. A few meteors streak across the middle sky. Backlit by the setting sun, a NASA-funded research vessel sails in the foreground. Below the ocean surface, the vessel’s submersible explores the ocean’s depths. A ground-based observatory perches on a cliff on the horizon.

Image and text credit: NASA/Jenny Mottar

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Aurorasaurus Citizen Scientist Captures Brilliant Photo of Aurora.

The strongest geomagnetic storm in over two decades dazzled scientists and skywatchers in May 2024. Overnight on May 10–11, an extreme storm culminated in a remarkable display of the aurora that was visible from many areas worldwide, including latitudes where aurora sightings are uncommon.

Photo and text credit: Photo by Aurorasaurus ambassador Gunjan Sinha; text by NASA Earth Observatory/Kathryn Hansen

Learn more about Aurorasaurus

NASA’s Lucy Observes First Contact Binary Orbiting Asteroid

On its journey to the never-before-visited Trojan asteroids that share an orbit around the Sun with Jupiter, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft made a remarkable discovery during a flyby in the main asteroid belt—the first contact binary celestial body, or satellite, seen orbiting a larger asteroid. On November 1, 2023, during Lucy’s planned encounter with asteroid Dinkinesh, the spacecraft spotted the larger asteroid’s satellite, later named Selam.

Image and text credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)/National Science Foundation National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)

Learn more about the Contact Binary Orbiting Asteroid

Studying Biological Impacts of Space Radiation

As NASA prepares to return to the Moon, it is important to study the impacts of space radiation and other spaceflight hazards on the human body. To do that, researchers developed human brain models in the lab and exposed them to simulated space radiation.

Image and text credit: Estrella Passerat de la Chapelle, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, and Egle Cekanaviciute, NASA’s Ames Research Center

Learn more about Space Biology

Air and Ocean Views

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, launched on February 8, 2024, collects data on microscopic life in the ocean and particles in the air, advancing researchers’ understanding of issues including fisheries' health, harmful algal blooms, air pollution, and wildfire smoke. With PACE, scientists also investigate how the ocean and atmosphere interact with each other and are affected by a changing climate.

Image and text credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/PACE; Image processing:

Carina Poulin

Engage more with PACE

Cool as Ice

Every winter, a layer of carbon dioxide frost (dry ice) forms on the surface of Mars. At its greatest extent in midwinter, this frost reaches from the poles down to the middle latitudes, until it is too warm and sunny to persist. In most places, this is around 50 degrees latitude, similar to the latitude of southern Canada on Earth. However, small patches of dry ice are found closer to the equator on pole-facing slopes, which are colder because they receive less sunlight.

Image and text credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)–Caltech/University of Arizona

See more about this Mars image

NASA Telescopes Chase Down “Green Monster” in Star’s Debris

For the first time, astronomers have combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope to study the well-known supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A). This work has helped explain an unusual structure in the debris from the destroyed star called the “Green Monster,” first discovered in Webb data in April 2023.

Image and text credit: X-ray: NASA/Chandra X-ray Center (CXC)/Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO); Optical: NASA/European Space Agency (ESA)/Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI); Infrared (IR): NASA/ESA/Canadian Space Agency (CSA)/STScI/Milisavljevic et al., NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)–Caltech; Image processing:

NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt and K. Arcand

Find out more about Cassiopeia A

NASA-NOAA Satellite Observes Large Solar Eruption

The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) instrument aboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) West satellite observed a flurry of solar activity in mid-December 2023. This December 11 image from the SUVI 304A channel corresponds to plasma in the upper chromosphere of the Sun at a temperature of about 6,000 kelvins.

Image and text credit: NOAA/Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

Learn more about NOAA's GOES Satellites

Webb and Hubble’s Views of Spiral Galaxy NGC 628

This face-on view of spiral galaxy NGC 628 is split diagonally, showing observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in the top left portion of the image and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the bottom right portion. JWST’s observations combine near- and mid-infrared light, while HST’s observations showcase visible light.

Image and text credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (University of Oxford), Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) Team

Learn more about this combined Webb-Hubble image

Thinning Arctic Sea Ice

Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats in the ocean. This photo, taken from NASA’s Gulfstream V Research Aircraft on July 21, 2022, shows Arctic sea ice in the Lincoln Sea north of Greenland.

Image and text credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/ICESat-2/Rachel Tilling

Explore how NASA ice scientists study Arctic ice

The Sharpest Pictures of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in a Generation

During its close flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io on December 30, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured some of the most detailed imagery ever of Io’s volcanic surface. In this image, taken by the JunoCam instrument from about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) above the moon, Io’s night side [left lobe] is illuminated by “Jupitershine,” which is sunlight reflected from the planet’s surface.

Image and text credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory–Caltech/Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)/Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS). Image processing:

Emma Wälimäki © CC BY

Learn more about Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io

Solar System Parallelism Inside a Solder Bead

Soldering is an essential manufacturing step for joining electrical conductors. It involves the melting and solidification of materials, which can result in voids and shrinkage during the process.

Image and text credit: Iowa State University/Manish Kumar and Siddhartha Pathak

Explore more about Materials Science

Spritacular Citizen Scientist Captures Photo of Elusive Upper Atmospheric Electrical Phenomena Over Château de Beynac

A flash of lightning, and then—something else. High above a storm, a crimson figure blinks in and out of existence. If you see it, you are a lucky witness of a sprite, one of the least-understood electrical phenomena in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Photo and text credit: Photo by NASA’s Spritacular project participant Nicolas Escurat; text by NASA

Learn more about Spritacular

So much of what NASA does is to understand the very nature of life: how it formed on Earth, whether it exists elsewhere, and how humans can thrive in space. These are key components of NASA’s science strategy for exploring space. Our missions look for biosignatures in the chemical makeup of the cosmos, investigate the potential for habitability on other worlds, and help protect life on our own planet. The theme of “life” provides a unique opportunity to showcase the collaboration between divisions and the interconnected themes across SMD’s portfolio.