‘Jake Matijevic’ Contact Target for Curiosity The drive by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity during the mission’s 43rd Martian day, or sol, (Sept. 19, 2012) ended with this rock about 8 feet (2.5 meters) in front of the rover. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s M... More »
In the big image at left, the many galaxies of a massive cluster called MACS J1149+2223 dominate the scene. Gravitational lensing by the giant cluster brightened the light from the newfound galaxy, known as MACS 1149-JD, some 15 times. At upper right, a partia... More »
Venkat Chandrasekaran, an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences, arrived at Caltech in early September. Chandrasekaran, who was born in Mumbai, India, and grew up in a number of different Indian and Middle Eastern cities, studied mathe... More »
This artist concept features NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars’ past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. E... More »
Researchers are brewing up icy, organic concoctions in the lab to mimic materials at the edge of our solar system and beyond. The laboratory equipment at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is seen at right, and a very young solar system, wit... More »
Guruswami Ravichandran (right) presents the Wings Award to Sir Martin Sweeting at a gala banquet and awards ceremony at the Caltech Athenaeum. Sir Martin Sweeting, founder and executive chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and director of t... More »
A computer-generated image depicts NASA’s Juno spacecraft firing its main engine. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully executed a second Deep Space Maneuver, called DSM-2 last Friday, Sept. 14. The 30 minute firing of its main eng... More »
Dianne Newman (left), and Doris Tsao. Two members of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) faculty have been given National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Awards. The awards are administered through the NIH’s Common Fund, which provides sup... More »
Small spherical objects fill the field in this mosaic combining four images from the Microscopic Imager on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./ USGS/Modesto Junior College NASA’s long-lived rover Opportunity ... More »
Astronomers have discovered two gas giant planets orbiting stars in the Beehive cluster, a collection of about 1,000 tightly packed stars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA-funded astronomers have, for the first time, spotted planets orbiting sun-like stars ... More »
David Hsieh, an assistant professor of physics, is one of Caltech’s newest faculty members. Hsieh grew up in Hong Kong before hopping the Pacific to earn his BS in physics and mathematics in 2003 from Stanford. Hsieh then received his PhD from Princeton in... More »
Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, was prepped for pre-launch survival testing under Martian conditions in JPL’s space simulator on March 8, 2011. The sealed chamber was pumped down to the near-vacuum of Mar’s atmosphere, and chilled to –130°C by... More »
