Home Page - Astrophysics Science Division

Astrophysics Science Division (660) Home

Hubble Goes to the eXtreme to Assemble Farthest-Ever View of the Universe: Like photographers assembling a portfolio of best shots, astronomers have assembled a new, improved portrait of mankind's deepest-ever view of the universe.

Press Releases & Feature Stories

NASA Goddard Team to Participate in Dark Energy Mission

02.12.2013

The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected three NASA-nominated science teams to participate in their planned Euclid mission, including one led by Goddard Space Flight Center.

[Companion release on the JPL team]

NASA scientists build first-ever wide-field X-ray imager

02.07.2013

Three NASA scientists teamed up to develop and demonstrate NASA's first wide-field-of-view soft X-ray camera for studying "charge exchange."

NASA Super-Tiger Balloon Shatters Flight Record

01.24.2013

Flying high over Antarctica, a NASA long duration balloon has broken the record for longest flight by a balloon of its size.

More info here.

Webb Telescope Team Completes Optical Milestone

01.16.2013

Engineers working on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope met another milestone recently with they completed performance testing on the observatory's aft-optics subsystem.

NASA'S Galex Reveals The Largest-Known Spiral Galaxy

01.10.2013

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 has ranked among the biggest stellar systems for decades. Now a team of astronomers has crowned it the largest-known spiral, based on archival data from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission.

See all Press Releases & Feature Stories »

Division News

Goddard View

02.07.2013

Volume 9, Issue 1 - The James Webb Space Telescope marked another year of significant progress in 2012 as flight instrumentation was completed and delivered to NASA.

2012 Robert H. Goddard Awards for ASD

02.06.2013

Robert H. Goddard Award of Merit (Goddard's highest award): Bruce Woodgate (667)
Citation: For exceptional career achievements in science and service to Goddard and NASA
Science: Timothy Kallman (662) - Citation: For his outstanding performance as GEMS Project Scientist
Eliahu Dwek (665) - Citation: For developing new, detailed, and observationally confirmed models of the formation, evolution, and destruction of cosmic dust grains, from supernovae to shock waves and star-forming regions.
Jane Rigby (665) - Citation: For using gravitational lensing to map a distant galaxy in unprecedented detail.
HEASARC Team (660.1) - [Team list: Alan Smale, Tom McGlynn, Bill Pence, Frank Marshall, Lorella Angelini, Dave Chuss, Phil Newman, Keith Arnaud, Mike Corcoran, Steve Drake, Steve Sturner, Laura McDonald, Ed Sabol, Craig Gordon, Bryan Irby, Pan Chai, Urmila Prasad, Michael Greason] Citation: For enabling new science results from NASA missions by providing high quality software for data search, retrieval and analysis through the HEASARC data archive research center
Safety: Curtis Odell (660) - Citation: For thorough and detailed investigation into the root cause of the laboratory fire in Building 34, Room C259, and his efforts to define and implement a recovery plan.
Mentoring: Joan Centrella (660) - Citation: For her demonstrated commitment to mentoring women scientists at all stages of their careers, which has resulted in a positive and supportive professional environment for all.
Outreach: Frank Reddy (660) - Citation: For outstanding dedication to public outreach through the media, including exceptional scientific writing and coordination with NASA video producers, resulting in high-impact Astrophysics press releases and features.

Congratulations to Alice Harding

01.11.2013

Dr Alice Harding has been awarded the American Astronomical Society High Energy Astrophysics Division Rossi Prize. The award is made jointly to Alice and Dr Roger Romani from Stanford University. The citation reads "To Alice K Harding and Roger W. Romani for establishing a theoretical framework for understanding gamma-ray pulsars."

More Division News »

Overview

The Astrophysics Science Division conducts a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, and fundamental physics. Individual investigations address issues such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy, which planets outside our solar system may harbor life, and the nature of space, time, and matter at the edges of black holes.

Observing photons, particles, and gravitational waves enables researchers to probe astrophysical objects and processes. Researchers develop theoretical models, design experiments and hardware to test theories, interpret and evaluate the data, archive and disseminate the data, provide expert user support to the scientific community, and publish conclusions drawn from research. The Division also conducts education and public outreach programs about its projects and missions.

About the ASD