This week, Earth is in for a celestial spectacle as it braces for close encounters with not one or two, but five asteroids. As per NASA's Asteroid Watch dashboard, leading this stellar cast is the colossal Asteroid 2008 OS7, a celestial behemoth rivalling the dimensions of a Fifa-accredited football stadium, measuring a staggering 890 feet (0.

Celestial parade: Earth braces for close encounters with five colossal asteroids this week

On Thursday, the first comprehensive survey of the Earth's oceans, lakes and rivers will blast off from Southern California. The NASA-led mission being launched in collaboration with Elon Musk's SpaceX has been dubbed SWOT, or Surface Water and Ocean Topography and is designed to give scientists an unprecedented view of around 70 per cent of the Earth's surface.

Ground-breaking NASA mission to study one of Earth's most important resources to be launched today

In a new study published in the 'Planetary Science Journal' astronomers said that Neptune has experienced an unexplained shift in temperature. The study's lead author Michael Roman, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Leicester, said in a statement "Since we have been observing Neptune during its early southern summer, we expected temperatures to be slowly growing warmer, not colder.

Solar system's most distant planet presents unexplained shift in temperature

NASA is going to launch a mission to what could almost be considered a journey to the centre of the Earth. The US space agency's Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA to launch mission to massive, metal-rich asteroid called 'Psyche'

NASA researchers have said that asteroid Bennu, which is classified as a potentially hazardous object, has a chance of hitting the Earth. Asteroids are among the leftover debris from the solar system's formation some 4.

NASA says asteroid Bennu classified as 'potentially hazardous' can hit Earth

Methane in the Martian atmosphere and organic chemicals in its soil are the latest tantalising findings of NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover as it hunts for clues about the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

Mysterious methane detections on Mars baffle NASA scientists

Boasting azure waters and white sands, a Turkish lake that NASA thinks hides secrets about Mars threatens to become too popular for its own good. Lake Salda gained international renown when US scientists began poking around in preparation for the Perseverance rover mission, which has been beaming back videos from the Red Planet since February.

Turkish lake with likely clues to Mars gains unwanted fame

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is providing the instrument that will enable a nonprofit organisation called Carbon Mapper to pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) point-sources from space.

NASA-built instrument will help to spot greenhouse gas super-emitters

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has resolved a 16-year-old cosmic mystery and found the missing links to the Blue Ring Nebula. The Blue Ring Nebula spotted by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) perplexed scientists for several years.

NASA resolves the mystery of Blue Ring Nebula, reveal stellar missing link

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is gearing up to carry a cutting-edge 8.4-foot telescope high into the stratosphere aboard a balloon of the size of a football stadium.

NASA to send stadium-size balloon to study formation of stars

NASA needs the public's help to design the perfect rover that can survive Venus's "hellish" landscape. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), under a grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, is running a public challenge to develop an obstacle avoidance sensor for a possible future Venus rover.

NASA seeks public help in developing Venus rover to 'explore hell'

The Mars InSight probe lifted off from the central California coast at 4:05 a.m.PDT, treating early-rising residents across a wide swath of the state to the luminous pre-dawn spectacle of the first US interplanetary spacecraft to be launched over the Pacific

First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California