Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium

09/18/2026

09/17/2026

The Moon’s got a big new crater! 🕳️

Spotted in imagery from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the crater is the result of a less than once-in-a-century impact. Named McGetchin, the crater is about 141 feet deep and wider than the length of two football fields. The comet or asteroid that created it could have been as big as a six‑story building! 🪨💥🌕

Full story of the discovery, published today: go.nasa.gov/3TzHqUf

09/17/2026

In a class of their own 🔭

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope studied this star-forming region, finding a strange class of objects that form like stars but never become hot enough to fuse ordinary hydrogen into helium: Brown dwarfs. https://go.nasa.gov/4xqawmL

The brown dwarfs in this region are just twice the mass of Jupiter – smaller than researchers thought they could be. This discovery reveals new insights about the star formation process.

07/09/2026

06/23/2026

Sparkly, swirly, and surprising 🌌

Data from our Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that this spiral galaxy, Messier 83, is unusual. It contains over 20 supernova remnants – remains from star explosions – that vary drastically in X-ray brightness. This is surprising because supernova remnants typically fade in X-rays slowly over time.

06/22/2026

Artemis III will carry out a series of objectives in low Earth orbit designed to demonstrate critical systems needed for future lunar landings. During the mission, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will launch four crew members aboard the Orion spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Hear from those astronauts as they discuss their backgrounds and the training ahead of them >> https://go.nasa.gov/4aa5SAH

06/22/2026

Our office hours will return to the Summer schedule this week, as previously announced on our Instagram and pages. Have a great week!

06/21/2026

Happy summer solstice ☀️

Today marks the start of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest stretch of daylight all year. It’s the day the Northern Hemisphere is most tilted toward the Sun. https://go.nasa.gov/4fPlbT5