Space Exploration News

Mountainous shoreline of Sputnik Planum: in this enhanced color image, great blocks of Pluto’s water-ice crust appear jammed together in al-Idrisi mountains. Some mountain sides appear coated in dark material, while other sides are bright. Several sheer faces appear to show crustal layering, perhaps related to the layers seen in some of Pluto’s crater walls. The mountains end abruptly at the shoreline of Sputnik Planum, where exotic ices of the plain form a nearly level surface, broken only by the fine trace work of striking, cellular boundaries and the textured surface of the plain’s ices. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Reveals Enhanced Color Mosaic of Pluto’s Surface

Dec 11, 2015 by News Staff

The newly-released enhanced color mosaic combines sharp pictures of Pluto from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) taken 15 minutes...

Occator crater (center) appears to be among the youngest features on Ceres. Dawn mission scientists estimate its age to be about 78 million years old. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Two Studies Offer Fascinating Insights about Ceres, Its Bright Spots

Dec 10, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

In two new studies, published today in the journal Nature, the dwarf planet Ceres reveals some of its most eye-catching secrets. In the first study, researchers...

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.

NASA Scientists Release Stunning New Image of Saturn’s Largest Moon Titan

Dec 10, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter captured this view of Titan during a moderately close flyby on November 13, 2015. This composite image shows an infrared...

This image of Venus was taken by the UVI instrument on JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter from a distance of about 44,700 miles (72,000 km) on December 7, 2015. Image credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Japan’s Akatsuki Spacecraft Reaches Venus Orbit, Sends Back New Images

Dec 9, 2015 by Natali Anderson

JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft successfully entered Venus’ orbit on Monday, December 7, where it now will prepare to study the planet’s atmosphere. This...

This image of Saturn’s moon Epimetheus was taken by NASA’s Cassini robotic probe on December 6. The view looks toward the Saturn facing side of the tiny moon. North on Epimetheus is up. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Takes New Images of Saturn’s Small Moons: Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus

Dec 9, 2015 by Natali Anderson

New images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft offer close-ups of three of Saturn’s tiny moons – Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus. Cassini captured...

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...