Space Exploration News

New Horizons Geologists Spot Possible Cryovolcanoes on Pluto

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.
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 – exotic volcanoes that erupt volatiles such as water, ammonia or methane, instead of molten rock. 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 /...

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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...

This image of 2015 TB145 was generated using radar data collected by the Arecibo Observatory. Image credit: NAIC-Arecibo / NSF.

2015 TB145: Astronomers Capture Radar Images of ‘Halloween Asteroid’

Nov 1, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s 1,000-foot (305-m) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico have captured images of a massive asteroid – designated 2015 TB145...

This wide-angle image was made just 15 minutes after New Horizons’ closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. It was taken with New Horizons’ Multi-spectral Visible Imaging Camera from a distance of 11,000 miles. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Team Releases New Images of Pluto

Oct 30, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission have released a remastered image of Pluto’s crescent, a new, low-resolution image of the dwarf planet and...

WT1190F observed on October 9, 2015, with the University of Hawaii 2.2-m telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Image credit: B. Bolin / R. Jedicke / M. Micheli.

WT1190F: Mystery Space Object is Likely to Crash into Indian Ocean in November

Oct 29, 2015 by News Staff

A reentry of a suspected piece of space junk from a very high orbit on November 13, 2015, offers a great opportunity to gather data to improve our knowledge...

Rosetta has made the first in situ detection of oxygen molecules outgassing from a comet; this surprising observation suggests they were incorporated into the comet during its formation. This infographic depicts various strands of evidence gathered for the study. Image credit: ESA / ATG medialab / Rosetta / NavCam / A. Bieler et al. / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

Molecular Oxygen Detected in Coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Oct 29, 2015 by News Staff

ESA’s Rosetta orbiter has detected molecules of oxygen in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Rosetta has made the first in situ detection...

This image shows the asteroid 2015 TB145 (small dot at center) as seen by a telescope at ESA’s Teide Observatory, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Image credit: ESA.

Asteroid 2015 TB145 Will Miss Earth, ESA Scientists Confirm

Oct 28, 2015 by News Staff

The asteroid 2015 TB145 – also known as the Great Pumpkin or the Halloween asteroid – will miss Earth on October 31, a team of scientists at...

This close-up image shows Occator crater and a cluster of bright spots. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

NASA Releases New Image of Ceres’ Enigmatic Bright Spots

Oct 27, 2015 by News Staff

NASA scientists, using a camera aboard the agency’s Dawn spacecraft, have created a stunning mosaic image of a small part of Ceres’ surface. The mosaic...

New Horizons Captures Images of Pluto’s Small Moon Kerberos

Oct 23, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has sent back four low-resolution images of Kerberos, Pluto’s tiny moon. This image of Kerberos completes the family...

This is an artist's impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the strong gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge.

NASA Astronomers Spot ‘Great Pumpkin’ Asteroid: 2015 TB145

Oct 22, 2015 by News Staff

An asteroid, designated 2015 TB145, will safely pass Earth on October 31 at 1:05 p.m. EDT (10:05 a.m. PDT, 17:05 UTC) by about 300,000 miles (482,800 km...

An artist’s illustration of a comet impact on Earth. Image credit: Don Davis / NASA.

New Study Reveals Link between Mass Extinction Events and Comet/Asteroid Showers

Oct 20, 2015 by News Staff

According to a study that will be published today in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, mass extinctions occurring over the...

This image of part of the Mangala Valles outflow channel system was acquired by ESA’s Mars Express on July 12, 2015. The region has been subject to intense episodes of flooding, likely triggered by volcanic processes occurring in the nearby Tharsis region. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Sees Evidence of Flooding in Red Planet’s Mangala Valles Region

Oct 19, 2015 by News Staff

This new image from ESA’s Mars Express orbiter shows the central part of Mangala Valles, a system of channels on Mars. The image was taken by Mars Express’...

This image of Pluto’s surface was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shortly before closest approach to the dwarf planet on July 14, 2015. The scene is about 130 miles (210 km) across. The Sun illuminates the scene from the left, and north is to the upper left. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Delivers New Close-Ups of Pluto and Charon

Oct 19, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons team has released new close-up images of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. The images were taken by New Horizons’ Long Range...

This image from Cassini shows battered terrain around the north pole of Enceladus. Craters crowd and overlap each other, each one recording an impact in the moon’s distant past. The moon’s north pole lies approximately at the top of this image. North on Enceladus is up. The view was acquired at a distance of 4,000 miles (6,000 km) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 8 degrees. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

New Close-Up Photos of Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Released by NASA

Oct 18, 2015 by News Staff

NASA scientists have released the best views yet of the northern extremes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The images were collected as the agency’s Cassini...

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 Team Releases First Scientific Results from Flyby of Pluto System

Oct 16, 2015 by News Staff

The dwarf planet Pluto displays a wide variety of geological landforms, including those resulting from glaciological and surface-atmosphere interactions...

A monochrome mosaic of the Moon from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, centered in the middle of the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / Arizona State University.

Strange Structure near Moon’s South Pole Has Volcanic Origin, Scientists Say

Oct 15, 2015 by News Staff

Mafic Mound, a distinctive and enigmatic feature near the Moon’s south pole, is a volcanic structure unlike any other found on the surface of the Earth’s...

Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. The shapes of moons can teach planetary scientists much about their history. This image was captured on July 26, 2015, when Cassini was nearly 904,000 miles (1.4 million km) from Mimas and 485,000 miles (781,000 km) from Pandora. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures Amazing View of Saturn’s Moons Mimas and Pandora

Oct 15, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

This newly released image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows two of Saturn’s moons, Mimas and Pandora, and the planet’s rings. Although Mimas and...

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