DNA tile ribbons (shown here in an atomic force microscopy image) can store information in their arrangement of tiles—12.5nm x 4nm x 2nm self-assembled DNA structures. This information can be propagated during ribbon growth, and replicated in a cycle of ribb... More »
These series of radar images of asteroid 1999 RQ36 were obtained by NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. on Sept 23, 1999. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in , has accurately determined the mass ... More »
Artist’s concept of NuSTAR in orbit. NuSTAR has a 33-foot (10-meter) mast that deploys after launch to separate the optics modules (right) from the detectors in the focal plane (left). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will hold a news conference on Wednesda... More »
One day each spring, kept secret until the last minute, Caltech seniors ditch their classes and vanish from campus, leaving behind complex, imaginative scavenger hunts, mazes, puzzles, and other challenges that are carefully planned out to occupy the undercl... More »
NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ. Like a tourist waiting for just the right lighting to snap a ... More »
Artist’s concept showing NASA’s NuSTAR mission orbiting Earth. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Final pre-launch preparations are underway for NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. The mission, which will use X-ray vision to hunt for hidden bl... More »
Sunday evening’s solar eclipse dazzled hundreds of sun gazers who gathered on Caltech’s campus to watch the rare alignment, a partial annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse that wowed spectators around the world. In an event organized by the Caltech Astronomy Ou... More »
What makes a piece of armor effective? Sure, it needs to be strong, and it should be lightweight. But what is it about a material’s composition that gives it such properties? And can we develop materials that provide even better protection? With decades’ worth... More »
This artist’s concept depicts a comet-like tail of a possible disintegrating super Mercury-size planet candidate as it transits, or crosses, its parent star, named KIC 12557548. The results are based on data from NASA’s Kepler mission. At an orbital distance o... More »
This raw, unprocessed image was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on May 20, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Methone. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made its closest approach to Saturn’s tiny moon Methone as part of a trajectory t... More »
“I’m looking for things that go bump, burp, or boom in the sky,” says astronomer Shrinivas “Shri” Kulkarni, noting that “there is one supernova somewhere in the universe every second.” A supernova is the brilliant new object we see when a star explodes, and ... More »
The Herschel Space Observatory has discovered a giant, galaxy-packed filament ablaze with billions of new stars. The filament connects two clusters of galaxies that, along with a third cluster, will smash together in several billion years and give rise to one ... More »
