A NASA spacecraft chasing a rare metal asteroid is swinging past Mars for a gravity boost. The Psyche spacecraft will slingshot past the red planet at more than 12,000 mph Friday. It will be an especially close encounter, with Psyche passing within 2,800 miles. Then it will be on to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that is home to its enticing target. All of the spacecraft’s science instruments will be on for the flyby. Cameras will snap thousands of pictures. The spacecraft is named Psyche like the asteroid it's after. The spacecraft should reach the metal-rich asteroid in 2029.

A spiral galaxy's brilliant heart outshines everything within sight in a new picture from NASA's Webb Space Telescope. The image released this week depicts the Messier 77 galaxy 45 million light-years away. The galaxy's active nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole that's 8 million times more massive than the sun. Surrounding gas is sucked into a tight orbit around the black hole, becoming so hot that it radiates in the extreme. Webb captured the stunning details. The world's largest and most powerful space telescope has been photographing the cosmos since launching in 2021.

A new study suggests that a tiny, icy world beyond Pluto harbors a thin, delicate atmosphere. It's believed to be the smallest object yet with a clearly detected global atmosphere. Japanese astronomers reported Monday that this minor planet — a mini Pluto just 300 miles across — appears to have an atmosphere that's 5 million to 10 million times thinner than Earth's. They say it could have been created by volcanic eruptions or possibly a comet strike. The scientists used telescopes in Japan to observe the object two years ago in the solar system's Kuiper Belt.