Skywatch

The iconic Horsehead nebula has been the subject of astronomical imagery by amateurs and professionals alike. The region has clouds of ionized hydrogen as well as areas of dark dust that obscure new-forming stars. A new image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows new features and hidden stars not seen in the other optical images. A 3D movie of the image gives perspective to the structure of the nebula. HubbleSite news release

The solar system -- especially the inner part -- is bathed in charged particles from the Sun and cosmic radiation. Several planets with magnetic fields, including Earth, are somewhat protected from the particles because they become trapped high above the surface by magnetic field lines. The Van Allen belts, discovered in the 1950s, are a pair of radiation belts encircling the Earth. Surprisingly, two new NASA probes discovered a short-lived third belt. NASA Science on the discovery of the...

Rock samples collected in February 2013 by NASA's Curiosity rover show ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. The rover found the soil contains sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon – all elements critical for life. NASA news release on the discoveryMars Science Laboratory page