Space Exploration News

Close Encounters between Centaurs and Gas Giants Form Our Solar System’s ‘Pinky Rings’

Aug 19, 2016 by James Romero

Our gas giants strip the icy surface off minor planets to form miniature versions of Saturn’s famous rings throughout the outer solar system, according...

Observations suggest Venus may have had water oceans in its distant past; a land-ocean pattern like that above was used in a climate model to show how storm clouds could have shielded ancient Venus from strong sunlight and made the planet habitable. Image credit: NASA.

Venus May Have Been Solar System’s First Habitable Planet

Aug 15, 2016 by News Staff

Venus today is an inhospitable place with surface temperatures approaching 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius) and an atmosphere 90 times as thick...

Cassini caught the sunlight glinting off Titan's seas and lakes filled with liquid methane or ethane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / University of Idaho.

Cassini Spots Liquid Methane-Filled Canyons on Titan

Aug 11, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Liquid methane-filled canyons hundreds to thousands of feet deep etch the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, according to researchers with NASA’s Cassini...

This false-color image from Cassini shows clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / Kevin M. Gill.

Stunning New Cassini Image Shows Saturn’s Clouds

Aug 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new infrared image from NASA’s Cassini orbiter shows enormous clouds in the northern hemisphere of the gas giant Saturn. This false-color image from...

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Widespread Volcanism on Planet Mercury Ended by 3.5 Billion Years Ago

Aug 9, 2016 by News Staff

According to new research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the main phase of volcanism on Mercury ended by 3.5 billion years ago,...

Dawn Orbiter Provides Clues to Internal Structure of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Aug 4, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft about Ceres’ gravity and topography, mission scientists have found that the dwarf planet is ‘differentiated,’...

Water ice on Rhea’s surface makes it bright in full sunlight. North on Rhea is up and rotated 36 degrees to the right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA Releases New Image of Saturn’s Moon Rhea

Aug 3, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

NASA has shared a stunning new image of Rhea, the second largest moon of the gas giant Saturn. Water ice on Rhea’s surface makes it bright in full sunlight....

Juno arrives at Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Reaches Apojove

Jul 31, 2016 by News Staff

Almost a month after slipping into orbit around the Solar System’s largest planet, NASA’s Juno spacecraft is nearing a turning point. Juno. Image credit:...

Artist’s concept of the mechanism of heating from the Great Red Spot. Turbulent atmospheric flows above the storm produce both gravity waves and acoustic waves. Gravity waves are much like how a guitar string moves when plucked, while acoustic waves are compressions of the air (sound waves). Heating in the upper atmosphere 500 miles (805 km) above the storm is thought to be caused by a combination of these two wave types ‘crashing’ like ocean waves on a beach. Image credit: Karen Teramura, University of Hawaii at Manoa / James O’Donoghue, Boston University.

Great Red Spot Heats Jupiter’s Upper Atmosphere

Jul 28, 2016 by News Staff

The upper atmosphere above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot – the largest storm in the Solar System – is hundreds of degrees hotter than anywhere...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Clouds High in Venus’ Atmosphere Reveal Features on Planet’s Surface

Jul 26, 2016 by News Staff

Using data from ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft, European planetary researchers have shown how weather patterns seen in Venus’ cloud layers are directly...

One year ago, NASA’s New Horizons space probe entered the history books by exploring the Pluto system. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons’ Top Ten Images, Discoveries at Pluto

Jul 18, 2016 by News Staff

One year ago, NASA’s New Horizons space probe entered the history books by exploring the Pluto system. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University...

This color view from NASA’s Juno spacecraft shows atmospheric features on Jupiter, including the Great Red Spot. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Beams Back First In-Orbit Images of Jupiter, Galilean Moons

Jul 13, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Juno’s low-resolution in-orbit images of Jupiter and three of its largest moons — Europa, Io, and Ganymede — have made their way back to...

‘Morse code’ dunes on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

‘Morse Code’ Dunes Spotted on Mars

Jul 12, 2016 by News Staff

The latest images released by NASA’s HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) team show ‘Morse code’ dunes on the Martian surface. ‘Morse...

This artist’s rendering shows Juno making one of its close passes over Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Juno Team Begins Powering Up Spacecraft’s Instruments

Jul 8, 2016 by News Staff

Members of NASA’s Juno mission have been busying themselves, getting the spacecraft ready for operations in orbit around Jupiter. This artist’s rendering...

This image from NASA’s Cassini robotic spacecraft shows Saturn’s A ring and its small moon Pan. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Views Saturn’s Elusive Moon Pan

Jul 7, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Saturn’s flying saucer-shaped moon Pan, also known as Saturn XVIII, is seen in this stunning image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft as it sweeps through...

This composite image shows an infrared view of Titan. In this image blue represents wavelengths centered at 1.3 microns, green represents 2.0 microns, and red represents 5.0 microns. A view at visible wavelengths would show only Titan’s hazy atmosphere; the near-infrared wavelengths in this image allow Cassini’s vision to penetrate the haze and reveal the moon’s surface. The view looks toward terrain that is mostly on the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Titan. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Hydrogen Cyanide: Key to Prebiotic Conditions on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Jul 6, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, has uncovered a chemical trail that suggests prebiotic conditions may exist on the surface...

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Jupiter

Jul 5, 2016 by Natali Anderson

After almost five years and 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion km), NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully entered the orbit around the biggest planetary inhabitant...

Artist’s impression of New Horizons encountering a Pluto-like object in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Alex Parker.

NASA Officially Extends New Horizons Mission

Jul 4, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s New Horizons robotic probe has received the green light to fly onward to the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) 2014 MU69. Artist’s impression of New...

This illustration depicts NASA’s Juno spacecraft at Jupiter, with its solar arrays and main antenna pointed toward the distant Sun and Earth. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Juno Ready to Encounter Solar System’s Biggest Planet

Jul 4, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter, the most massive planet in our Solar System, later today (July 4) to orbit the gas giant for 20 months...