Space Exploration News

This Pluto mosaic was made from New Horizons LORRI images taken on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 49,700 miles (80,000 km). This view is projected from a point 1,118 miles (1,800 km) above Pluto’s equator, looking northeast over the dark, cratered Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth expanse of icy plains called Sputnik Planum. Pluto’s North Pole is off the image to the left. This mosaic was produced with panchromatic images from the New Horizons LORRI camera, with color overlaid from the Ralph color mapper onboard New Horizons. Image credit: S.A. Stern et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aad1815.

New Horizons Sends Back High Resolution Views of Dwarf Planet Pluto

Dec 7, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons team has released a series of breathtaking new images of Pluto’s surface, giving planetary researchers a high resolution window...

This false color image shows the minor planet/plutino 1994 JR1 (arrow). Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Snaps Images of Kuiper Belt Object 1994 JR1

Dec 4, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has captured four images of a Kuiper belt object called 1994 JR1, also known as Plutino 15810. This false color image...

Photomontage of Saturn with a false-color image of UV aurora taken with Hubble’s Imaging Spectrograph on January 24, 2004, superimposed on an image of visible light taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys on March 22, 2004. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Clarke, Boston University / Z. Levay, STScI.

Scientists Find Evidence for Explosive Releases of Energy in Saturn’s Magnetosphere

Dec 1, 2015 by Natali Anderson

Planetary scientists using data from NASA’s Cassini orbiter have found direct evidence for ‘explosions’ in the magnetosphere of the gas giant Saturn. Photomontage...

This image focuses on a section of Aurorae Chaos on Mars. Vast volumes of water once flooded through this deep chasm on the planet that connects Valles Marineris to the planet’s northern lowlands. The image was taken by Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera on July 16, 2015. The image was acquired using the nadir channel of the camera, which is directed vertically down onto the surface of Mars. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Zooms in on Aurorae Chaos

Nov 30, 2015 by News Staff

A new image acquired by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows a run out of the Aurorae Chaos region. This...

Dione in front of Saturn’s rings. This view, acquired by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon on August 17, is centered on terrain at 7 degrees south latitude, 122 degrees west longitude. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA Reveals New Close-Up Image of Dione

Nov 27, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

This close-up view of Dione was taken by NASA’s Cassini robotic probe during its flyby of this icy moon of Saturn on August 17, 2015. Dione in front...

This mosaic from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft showcases Ceres’ north pole. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

NASA Releases Detailed Maps of Ceres’ Polar Regions

Nov 26, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

NASA scientists, using cameras aboard the agency’s Dawn spacecraft, have created the first detailed mosaics of Ceres’ north and south polar regions. This...

Mars May Get Ring System in 20 – 40 Million Years

Nov 24, 2015 by Natali Anderson

In 20 to 40 million years, Phobos – the larger of the two Martian moons – will break apart and form a ring system around Mars, according to...

A day on the dwarf planet Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Images Show Full Day on Pluto, Charon

Nov 23, 2015 by News Staff

On approach to the Pluto system in July 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured images of the dwarf planet and its biggest moon, Charon, rotating...

This image, taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on September 8, shows Dione (near) and Enceladus (far). Although these moons are composed of nearly the same materials, Enceladus has a considerably higher reflectivity than Dione. This view looks toward the leading hemisphere of Enceladus. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 1 degree to the right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Spies Two of Saturn’s Moons: Dione and Enceladus

Nov 19, 2015 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has snapped a beautiful photo of two Saturnian moons, Dione and Enceladus. This image, taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle...

This false-color image of Pluto was presented this week at the 47th Annual Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Team Releases False Color Psychedelic Image of Pluto

Nov 13, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dr William Grundy of the New Horizons’ surface composition team and his colleagues made this ‘psychedelic’ image of Pluto using a technique called...

Close-up view of Epimetheus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures New Image of Saturn’s Small Moon Epimetheus

Nov 13, 2015 by Natali Anderson

NASA has released the latest image of Epimetheus, one of Saturn’s smaller moons. This image of Saturn’s small moon Epimetheus was captured on July...

In 2012 Cassini spotted a cloud system called the south polar vortex in Titan’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 186 miles. The spacecraft’s instrument has now detected a massive ice cloud below it. This image was taken by Cassini in 2013. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Detects Giant Cloud of Frozen Compounds on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Nov 11, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected a giant new ice cloud in low- to mid-stratosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. In 2012 Cassini spotted...

Phobos is Slowly Being Torn Apart by Mars

Nov 11, 2015 by News Staff

Phobos, the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars, is slowly being pulled apart by tidal forces and is expected to break up within the...

Locations of 1,070 craters mapped on Pluto by the New Horizons team indicate a wide range of surface ages, which likely means the dwarf planet has been geologically active throughout its history. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Map of Pluto’s Craters Reveals Dwarf Planet’s Turbulent Past

Nov 10, 2015 by News Staff

According to NASA’s New Horizons team, the surface of the dwarf planet Pluto varies in age. Locations of 1,070 craters mapped on Pluto by the New Horizons...

This high-resolution image of Pluto was taken by New Horizons on July 14, 2015: yellow circle shows location of Wright Mons and Piccard Mons mountains on the dwarf planet. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Geologists Spot Possible Cryovolcanoes on Pluto

Nov 10, 2015 by Natali Anderson

Using images of Pluto’s surface, geologists with the New Horizons mission have discovered that two of dwarf planet’s mountains could be cryovolcanoes...

A solar storm approaches Mars. Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s MAVEN Team: Solar Storms Stripped Away Mars’ Atmosphere

Nov 6, 2015 by News Staff

Thanks to NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter, scientists have learned more about what happened to the Martian climate since...

This composite image is based on observations from New Horizons’ Ralph/LEISA instrument made on July 14, when the spacecraft was 50,000 miles (81,000 km) from Charon. The data were downlinked October 1 - 4 and processed into a map of Charon’s 2.2 micron ammonia-ice absorption band (green color). Panchromatic images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager used as the background in this composite were taken on July 14 and downlinked October 5 – 6. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Researchers Spot Young Ammonia Crater on Pluto’s Moon Charon

Nov 5, 2015 by News Staff

A fresh crater caught attention of New Horizons team members as they were studying high-resolution infrared image of Pluto’s largest moon. This composite...

This mini-panorama was taken by NASA’s Spirit rover on August 23, 2005, just as the rover finally completed its intrepid climb up Husband Hill. The summit appears to be a windswept plateau of scattered rocks, little sand dunes and small exposures of outcrop. The approximate true-color view spans about 90 degrees and consists of images obtained by the rover’s panoramic camera during 18 individual pointings. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell.

Planetary Scientist Finds Evidence of Corrosive Acid Fog on Mars

Nov 2, 2015 by News Staff

Dr Shoshanna Cole, a planetary researcher at Ithaca College, has pieced together a compelling story about how acidic water vapors may have eaten at the...

$Cassini captured this image of Enceladus as it neared the moon for its closest-ever dive past the moon’s active south polar region. The image was taken in visible light with the spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera on October 28, 2015. The image shows heavily cratered northern latitudes at top, transitioning to fractured, wrinkled terrain in the middle and southern latitudes. The wavy boundary of the moon's active south polar region is visible at bottom, where it disappears into wintry darkness. This view looks towards the Saturn-facing side of Enceladus. The image was taken at a distance of approximately 60,000 miles (96,000 km) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 45 degrees. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.$

NASA Releases Stunning New Images of Enceladus

Nov 2, 2015 by News Staff

NASA has released a series of breathtaking images of Enceladus, a frozen moon of Saturn, captured by the agency’s Cassini spacecraft. Cassini captured...