Space Exploration News

Cassini Beams Back New Image of Saturn’s Moon Iapetus

This image of Iapetus was taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on March 11, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
Jun 13, 2017 by News Staff

A new image of Saturn’s yin-yang moon, Iapetus, was recently captured by NASA’s Cassini probe, currently in its ‘Grand Finale’ phase. This image of Iapetus was taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on March 11, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute. Iapetus, also known as Saturn VIII, was discovered on October 25, 1671, by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Saturn’s third largest moon, Iapetus...

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Jupiter is the oldest planet in the Solar System. Image credit: NASA.

Jupiter is Solar System’s Oldest Planet, Planetary Researchers Say

Jun 12, 2017 by News Staff

The gas giant Jupiter is not only the most massive planet in our Solar System, but it’s also the oldest, according to an international team of planetary...

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.

Could Pluto’s Orbital Wobbles Create Its Mysterious Glacial Crazy-Paving?

Jun 6, 2017 by James Romero

Strange fields of polygons seen during New Horizons’ visit to Pluto could be explained by million year variations in the dwarf planet’s orbit caused...

This enhanced-color view of Enceladus is largely of the southern hemisphere and includes the south polar terrain at the bottom of the image. Ancient craters remain somewhat pristine in some locales, but have clearly relaxed in others. Northward-trending fractures, likely caused by a change in the moon’s rate of rotation and the consequent flattening of the moon’s shape, rip across the southern hemisphere. The south polar terrain is marked by a striking set of ‘blue’ fractures and encircled by a conspicuous and continuous chain of folds and ridges, testament to the forces within Enceladus that have yet to be silenced. The mosaic was created from 21 false-color frames taken during Cassini’s close approaches to Enceladus on March 9 and July 14, 2005. Images taken using filters sensitive to UV, visible and IR light (spanning wavelengths from 338 to 930 nm) were combined to create the individual frames. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Enceladus May Have Tipped Over in Distant Past

Jun 5, 2017 by News Staff

While combing through data gathered by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during flybys of Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons, researchers have...

A view of the Moon’s south pole showing where reflectance and temperature data indicate the possible presence of surface water ice. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Finds New Evidence of Surface Water Ice on Moon

Jun 2, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers analyzing data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have found evidence of surface frost near the Moon’s south pole. A view of...

Pale zones called ‘halos’ border bedrock fractures visible in this 2015 image (colorized) from the Curiosity rover. Measurements overlaid on the image offer a sense of scale for the size of these fractures. The rover team determined that the halos are rich in silica, a clue to the duration of wet environmental conditions long ago. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

High-Silica ‘Halos’ Found in Gale Crater Shed Light on Wet Ancient Mars

May 31, 2017 by News Staff

Fracture-associated ‘halos’ of lighter-toned bedrock have been found on the lower north slope of Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp) in Gale crater, Mars, indicating...

The huge storm churning through the atmosphere in Saturn’s northern hemisphere overtakes itself as it encircles the planet in this true-color view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. This picture, captured on Feb. 25, 2011, was taken about 12 weeks after the storm began, and the clouds by this time had formed a tail that wrapped around the planet. Some of the clouds moved south and got caught up in a current that flows to the east (to the right) relative to the storm head. This tail, which appears as slightly blue clouds south and west (left) of the storm head, can be seen encountering the storm head in this view. This storm is the largest, most intense storm observed on Saturn by NASA’s Voyager or Cassini spacecraft. It is still active today. As scientists have tracked this storm over several months, they have found it covers 500 times the area of the largest of the southern hemisphere storms observed earlier in the Cassini mission. The shadow cast by Saturn’s rings has a strong seasonal effect, and it is possible that the switch to powerful storms now being located in the northern hemisphere is related to the change of seasons after the planet’s August 2009 equinox. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Orbiter Watches as Saturn’s Solstice Arrives

May 30, 2017 by News Staff

Saturn’s solstice — the longest day of summer in the northern hemisphere and the shortest day of winter in the southern hemisphere — arrived...

Artist’s impression of the Jovian aurora. Image credit: JAXA.

NASA’s Juno Mission Delivers Preliminary Science Results

May 26, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno mission is rewriting what planetary researchers thought they knew about Jupiter, the largest and most massive planet in our Solar System:...

This artist’s concept shows a simulated view from the surface of Jupiters moon Europa. Europa’s potentially rough, icy surface, tinged with reddish areas, can be seen in the foreground. The giant planet Jupiter looms over the horizon. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Radioactive Decay Could Support Life on Solar System’s Ocean Worlds

May 24, 2017 by News Staff

A new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters examines whether radioactive decay could support life on ocean worlds like Jupiter’s moon...

This artwork shows a rocky planet being bombarded by comets. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Comets Contributed to Earth’s Atmosphere, Says New Study

May 22, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research, some of Earth’s atmosphere was brought to the planet by comets billions of years ago. This artwork shows a rocky planet being...

Juno captured this image 6,247 miles (10,053) km from Jupiter’s cloud tops during its close flyby on May 19, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Completes Sixth Jupiter Flyby

May 20, 2017 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully made its sixth close flyby of Jupiter on Friday, May 19, 2017, at 2 a.m. EDT (6 a.m. UTC; 11 p.m. PDT on May 18). Juno...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Planetary Researchers Shed New Light on Origins of Titan’s Topographic Relief

May 19, 2017 by News Staff

Saturn’s hazy moon Titan, Earth and Mars have all hosted rivers at some point in their histories. Planetary researchers from the City University of New...

Humans have long been shaping Earth’s landscape, but now scientists know we can shape the near-Earth environment as well. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Genna Duberstein.

New Study Blames Humans for Disruptive Space Weather Events

May 17, 2017 by News Staff

Humans have long been shaping Earth’s landscape, but now scientists know we can shape the near-Earth environment as well. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard...

With a diameter of 57 miles (92 km), Occator crater is larger than Tycho crater on the Moon. Its steep walls stand tall at over 1.4 miles (2 km), higher than the North face of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps. The origin and nature of the bright spots in its interior is still not clear. Image credit: DLR.

New NASA Video Shows Dwarf Planet Ceres at Opposition from Sun

May 17, 2017 by News Staff

This video is made of images taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, from a position exactly between the Sun and the surface of Ceres. Dawn successfully observed...

The young Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 m deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 km. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.

Research Reveals How Changes in Rainfall Shaped Early Mars

May 16, 2017 by News Staff

Heavy rain on Mars reshaped impact craters and carved out river-like channels in the planet’s surface billions of years ago, according to a study by...

This image was taken on May 7, 2017, at a distance of 316,000 miles (508,000 km). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Spots Bright Clouds of Methane in Titan’s Atmosphere

May 10, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini orbiter watched bright, feathery clouds of methane moving across the northern regions of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, on May 7,...

As Cassini made its first-ever dive through the gap between Saturn and its rings on April 26, 2017, its wide-angle camera took a series of rapid-fire images that were used to make this movie sequence. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Stunning NASA Video Shows Cassini’s First ‘Grand Finale’ Dive

May 5, 2017 by News Staff

A new movie sequence of images from Cassini shows the view as the orbiter swooped over Saturn during the first of its ‘Grand Finale’ dives between...

According Lehmer et al, moons around migrant hot Jupiters could hold onto atmospheres for billions of years. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Melting Moons Could Hold on to Atmospheres and Surface Water Oceans for Billions of Years

May 3, 2017 by James Romero

Exomoons around migrant hot Jupiters could hold onto life-giving atmospheres and maintain surface oceans for billions and billions of years. This is the...

This illustration shows Cassini about to make one of its dives between Saturn and its innermost rings as part of the mission’s Grand Finale. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Dust-Free Region between Saturn and Its Rings Puzzles Cassini Scientists

May 2, 2017 by News Staff

On April 26, 2017, NASA’s Cassini orbiter made its first ‘Grand Finale’ dive through the previously unexplored gap between Saturn and its rings....

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.

NASA’s Cassini Orbiter Makes First ‘Grand Finale’ Dive

Apr 27, 2017 by News Staff

On Wednesday, April 26, 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft successfully made its first dive through the narrow gap between the giant planet Saturn and its...

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