Space Exploration News

A young planetary system. Image credit: NASA / FUSE / Lynette Cook.

Research Sheds Light on Sequence of Events that Led to Creation of Earth and Mars

Sep 27, 2017 by News Staff

New research, reported in the journal Nature, changes scientists’ understanding of how terrestrial planets attain their physical and chemical characteristics. A...

This image was taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on September 1, 2017 at 5:58 p.m. EDT (2:58 p.m. PDT), and then processed by citizen scientist Gerald Eichstaedt. At the time the image was taken, the probe was 4,707 miles (7,576 km) from the tops of the clouds of the planet at a latitude of about minus 17.4 degrees. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt.

NASA’s Juno Probe Returns Stunning New Image of Jupiter

Sep 25, 2017 by News Staff

This striking image of Jupiter was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it performed its eighth flyby of the giant planet. This image was taken by NASA’s...

Large, smooth areas on Vesta correlated with higher concentrations of hydrogen. Image credit: Elizabeth Palmer / Essam Heggy.

Dawn Data Provide New Evidence for Ground Ice on Asteroid Vesta

Sep 22, 2017 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, researchers have found new evidence for the occurrence of ground ice on Vesta, the second largest asteroid of...

Deutsch et al found new evidence of ice sheets in permanently shadowed craters near the north pole of the planet Mercury. Image credit: Brown University.

Scientists Find New Evidence for Surface Water Ice at Mercury’s North Pole

Sep 21, 2017 by News Staff

A new study led by Brown University planetary researchers adds three new large members to the list of water ice-filled craters near Mercury’s north pole...

Aeolis Dorsa, Mars: the dotted white arrow points to curved strata recording point bar growth and river migration; the boundaries of ancient valley walls are defined by textural and albedo changes and are also associated with lateral river migration; stacked above the point bars and completely confined within the dotted white and black lines are topographically inverted river deposits outcropping as ridges (e.g., black arrow); in places (e.g., south of the dotted white arrow), the ridges run against the dotted boundaries, suggesting flow was once redirected along a valley wall. Image credit: Cardenas et al, doi: 10.1130/B31567.1.

Planetary Researchers Find More Evidence of Water on Early Mars

Sep 19, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

River deposits exist across the Martian surface. A large sedimentary basin named Aeolis Dorsa contains some of the planet’s most spectacular and densely...

Cassini entering Saturn’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Cassini Completes Its Historic Journey with Plunge into Atmosphere of Saturn

Sep 15, 2017 by News Staff

Today, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made its final approach to Saturn and dove into the gas giant’s atmosphere. Loss of contact with the orbiter took...

Cassini’s Final Dive into Saturn: Watch Live

Sep 15, 2017 by News Staff

After 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is nearing the end of its remarkable journey of exploration. NASA will provide live coverage, commentary,...

A new map of the thickness of the Martian crust shows less variation between thicker regions (red) and thinner regions (blue), compared to earlier mapping. This view is centered on Valles Marineris, with the Tharsis Montes near the terminator to its west. The map is based on modeling of Mars’ gravity field by Goossens et al. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / UMBC / MIT / E. Mazarico.

Martian Crust is Relatively Porous, Planetary Scientists Find

Sep 15, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr. Sander Goossens of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has found evidence that the crust of the Red Planet is not as...

In this screenshot from the short animated film Cassini’s Grand Finale, the spacecraft is shown breaking apart after entering the atmosphere of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Cassini is Ready for ‘Grand Finale’

Sep 14, 2017 by News Staff

On September 15, 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will make its final approach to Saturn, but this encounter will be like no other. This time, Cassini...

This unprocessed image of Titan was captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during its ‘goodbye kiss’ flyby of the hazy, planet-sized moon on September 11, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Completes Its Final, Distant Flyby of Saturn’s Moon Titan

Sep 13, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter successfully made ‘goodbye kiss’ flyby of Saturn’s hazy moon Titan on September 11, 2017, at 3:04 p.m. EDT (12:04...

This series of enhanced-color images shows Jupiter up close and personal, as Juno performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant. From left to right, the sequence of images taken on September 1 from 6:03p.m. to 6:11p.m. EDT (3:03p.m. to 3:11p.m. PDT). At the times the images were taken, the spacecraft ranged from 7,545 to 14,234 miles (12,143 to 22,908 km) from the tops of the clouds of Jupiter at a latitude range of minus 28.5406 to minus 44.4912 degrees. ‘Points of Interest’ include ‘Dalmatian Zone/Eye of Odin,’ ‘Dark Eye/STB Ghost East End,’ ‘Coolest Place on Jupiter,’ and ‘Renslow/Hurricane Rachel; the final image in the series on the right shows Jupiter’s south pole coming into view. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt / Sean Doran.

Juno Completes Its Eighth Flyby of Jupiter

Sep 12, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully made its eighth flyby of the giant planet Jupiter on September 1, 2017, at 5:49p.m. EDT (2:49p.m. PDT, 21:49 UTC). This...

This image, created with data from Juno’s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph, marks the path of Juno’s readings of Jupiter’s auroras, highlighting the electron measurements that show the discovery of discrete auroral acceleration processes indicated by the ‘inverted Vs’ in the lower panel. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / Randy Gladstone.

Juno Detects Vast Amounts of Energy over Jupiter’s Auroral Regions

Sep 11, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Nature, Dr. Barry Mauk of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and co-authors report observations...

Pluto’s first official surface-feature names are marked on this map, compiled from images and data gathered by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its flight through the Pluto system in 2015. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Ross Beyer.

Pluto’s Surface Features Get Official Names

Sep 7, 2017 by News Staff

The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features, has officially...

This radar image shows the near-Earth asteroid Florence and its two moons. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

Asteroid Florence Has Two Small Moons, NASA Radar Reveals

Sep 4, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers working with NASA’s 230-foot (70-m) Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, CA, have released the first radar images of the near-Earth asteroid...

An illustration of JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter successfully tracking lower-altitude clouds during the night with its near-infrared camera IR2. Image credit: PLANET-C Project Team.

JAXA’s Akatsuki Orbiter Spots Equatorial Jet in Venus’ Atmosphere

Sep 1, 2017 by News Staff

New observations from Akatsuki, a robotic spacecraft launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2010 to orbit Venus, have revealed an...

Saturn’s north polar region is pictured in great detail in this Cassini image (false color) obtained on April 26, 2017, from a range of 166,000 miles (267,000 km). This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 44 degrees above the ring plane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s North Polar Vortex Stuns in New Cassini Photo

Aug 29, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter captured this view of Saturn’s north polar vortex on April 26, 2017, the day it began its Grand Finale, a daring series...

Oxo Crater is the second-brightest feature on Ceres. Only Occator’s central area is brighter. Oxo lies near the 0 degree meridian that defines the edge of many Ceres maps, making this small feature easy to overlook. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took this image in its low-altitude mapping orbit, at a distance of 385 km from the surface of Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / PSI.

Crater Slope Avalanches Reveal Ceres’ Surface Water Ice

Aug 25, 2017 by James Romero

Surface water ice found within a brilliantly bright crater on the dwarf planet Ceres is being exposed by avalanches reprocessing impact deposits in just...

Moon’s Interior Likely Contains No Water, New Research Says

Aug 22, 2017 by News Staff

A new study led by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher contradicts a recently published paper, which suggested the interior of Earth’s only...

A cutaway depicts the interior of Neptune (left). In the new experiment, Kraus et al studied a plastic simulating compounds formed from methane -- a molecule with just one carbon bound to four hydrogen atoms that causes the distinct blue cast of Neptune; methane forms hydrocarbon (hydrogen and carbon) chains that respond to high pressure and temperature to form ‘diamond rain’ in the interiors of ice giants like Neptune; the authors were able to recreate similar conditions using high-powered optical lasers and watch the small diamonds form in real time with X-rays. Image credit: Greg Stewart, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

It Rains Diamonds on ‘Ice Giant’ Planets

Aug 21, 2017 by News Staff

A new experiment at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reveals how large diamonds may be formed from just hydrogen and carbon in the deep interior of...