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While a part of the United States braved extreme winter cold, January 2026 brought sweltering summer conditions to many parts of Australia.
Australia’s area-averaged mean temperature was 1.90 degrees Celsius (3.42 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1961–1990 average, making it the fourth-warmest January since the start of observations in 1910, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). Contributing to this was a late-month heatwave in the country’s southeast that was especially intense between January 26 and January 30. During that period, numerous weather stations in South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria recorded record-high daily temperatures.
The heatwave’s intensity and extent are evident in this map, which shows air temperatures at 03:00 Universal Time (2 p.m. local time in Victoria) on January 29, modeled at 2 meters (6.5 feet) above the ground. It was produced with a version of the GEOS (Goddard Earth Observing System) model, which integrates meteorological observations with mathematical equations that represent physical processes in the atmosphere. The darkest reds are where the model indicates temperatures reaching or exceeding 45°C (113°F).
According to BoM, the hottest temperatures of January 2026 were measured in two places in South Australia: in the town of Andamooka on the 29th and at the Port Augusta airport on the 30th, where temperatures reached 50.0°C (122.0°F). In both New South Wales and Victoria, the month’s hottest day was on the 27th, when temperatures reached 49.7°C (121.5°F) at a station in Pooncarie and 48.9°C (120.0°F) at stations in Walpeup and Hopetoun.
The heatwave brought significant human and public-health effects, including the increased risk of heat-related illness. Organizers of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Victoria, suspended play on some courts and closed roofs to provide shade as part of an “extreme heat policy” to protect players and spectators, according to news reports.
The recent warmth followed another bout of heat earlier in the month that, combined with strong winds and dry conditions, created dangerous fire conditions. Numerous bushfires were burning across Victoria on January 9 as officials urged people to evacuate. By mid-month, news reports indicated that the fires had destroyed hundreds of structures and killed tens of thousands of livestock.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using GEOS data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC. Story by Kathryn Hansen.
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Following a significant winter storm, frigid temperatures lingered in late January 2026 across a vast swath of the U.S.

A prolonged high-pressure weather system brought unusually warm September temperatures to British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

Tens of thousands of people fled to safety as blazes spread throughout the country’s Biobío and Ñuble regions.
2026-02-10 18:47
2 min read

Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator
Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 6, 2026
The results from our first visit to the “Nevado Sajama” drill location were intriguing enough to motivate our return to do a deeper dive into the minerals and compounds locked in this rock with SAM (the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite). As explained in the last blog, that deeper dive involves using the second of two vials of a chemical reagent, tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), that helps makes molecules detectable to SAM that would otherwise be undetectable. This week was focused on completing the many carefully-coordinated steps to apply the TMAH reagent to the rock powder from a drill hole and then analyze the treated sample. As you can see in the image above, we know the drilling necessary to collect the sample was successful, as was delivery of the sample to SAM. We are awaiting word about the first part of the SAM analysis, and are running the second part in the weekend plan.
As you can imagine, running a mass spectrometer and chemistry experiment remotely on another planet takes a lot of energy, but throughout the week, the team took advantage of whatever spare power there was to include additional science observations. ChemCam planned two attempts at targeting the Nevado Sajama2 drill-hole interior, analyzed “Tiquipaya,” one of the family of rocks broken by the rover wheels that expose bright white material, and measured the chemistry of the atmosphere with a passive sky observation. They also planned an RMI mosaic of layers near the base of the “Mishe Mokwa” butte to our east. MAHLI and APXS paired up to image and analyze the ground-up tailings around the drill hole for the most direct measure of chemistry of what SAM analyzes. As Mastcam acquired a full 360-degree mosaic the first time we were at Nevado Sajama, they did not have many rock observations to plan. Instead, they turned their eyes toward the sky to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere. Navcam made complementary measurements of atmospheric dust and planned movies and imaging surveys of clouds and dust devils. Ever watchful, RAD and REMS made their regular measurements of the Martian environment while DAN regularly monitored the Martian subsurface.

2026-02-10 17:03
NASA astronaut Chris Williams pointed a camera out a window on the cupola as a set of CubeSats were deployed outside the Kibo laboratory module by a small satellite orbital deployer into Earth orbit. Students from Mexico, Italy, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan designed the shoe-boxed satellites for a series of Earth observations and technology demonstrations.
CubeSats are a class of nanosatellites – small spacecraft weighing 1-10 kilograms – that use a standard size and form factor. The development of CubeSats has advanced into its own industry with government, industry and academia collaborating for ever increasing capabilities. CubeSats now provide a cost-effective platform for science investigations, new technology demonstrations and advanced mission concepts.
Image credit: NASA/Chris Williams
2026-02-10 16:56

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2026-02-10 15:00

This stunning image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveals a dramatic interplay of light and shadow in the Egg Nebula, sculpted by freshly ejected stardust. Located approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Egg Nebula features a central star obscured by a dense cloud of dust — like a “yolk” nestled within a dark, opaque “egg white.” Only Hubble’s sharpness can unveil the intricate details that hint at the processes shaping this enigmatic structure.
It is the first, youngest, and closest pre-planetary nebula ever discovered. (A pre-planetary nebula is a precursor stage of a planetary nebula, which is a structure of gas and dust formed from the ejected layers of a dying, Sun-like star. The term is a misnomer, as planetary nebulae are not related to planets.)
The Egg Nebula offers a rare opportunity to test theories of late-stage stellar evolution. At this early phase, the nebula shines by reflecting light from its central star, which escapes through a polar “eye” in the surrounding dust. This light emerges from a dusty disk expelled from the star’s surface just a few hundred years ago.
Twin beams from the dying star illuminate fast-moving polar lobes that pierce a slower, older series of concentric arcs. Their shapes and motions suggest gravitational interactions with one or more hidden companion stars, all buried deep within the thick disk of stardust.
Stars like our Sun shed their outer layers as they exhaust their hydrogen and helium fuel. The exposed core becomes so hot that it ionizes surrounding gas, creating the glowing shells seen in planetary nebulae such as the Helix, Stingray, and Butterfly nebulae. However, the compact Egg Nebula is still in a brief transitional phase — known as the pre-planetary stage — that lasts only a few thousand years. This makes it an ideal time to study the ejection process while the forensic evidence remains fresh.
The symmetrical patterns captured by Hubble are too orderly to result from a violent explosion like a supernova. Instead, the arcs, lobes, and central dust cloud likely stem from a coordinated series of poorly understood sputtering events in the carbon-enriched core of the dying star. Aged stars like these forged and released the dust that eventually seeded future star systems, such as our own solar system, which coalesced into Earth and other rocky planets 4.5 billion years ago.
Hubble has turned its gaze towards the Egg Nebula before. A first visible-light image from the telescope’s WFPC2 (Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2) was complemented in 1997 by a near-infrared NICMOS (Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer) image, giving a closer look at the light given off by the nebula. In 2003, Hubble’s ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys) yielded a new view of the Egg, showing the full extent of the ripples of dust around it. A further image from WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3) in 2012 zoomed in on the central dust cloud and dramatic gas outflows. This new image combines the data used to create the 2012 image with additional observations from the same program to deliver the clearest look yet at this intricate cosmic egg.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

This visualization examines the Hubble Space Telescope image of the Egg Nebula and showcases the shape and development of its three-dimensional components. The dying star has repeatedly ejected thin shells of gas and dust over the last 5,000 years. During the last 400 years, bipo…
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Ann Jenkins, Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
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