Space Exploration News

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Arrives at Pluto

Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 km) from the dwarf planet’s surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s closest approach to Pluto on July 14. The color image has been combined with lower-resolution color information from the Ralph instrument that was acquired earlier on July 13. This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the ‘heart,’ which measures around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) across. The heart’s diameter is about the same distance as from Denver to Chicago, in America’s heartland. The heart borders darker equatorial terrains, and the mottled terrain to its east (right) are complex. However, even at this resolution, much of the heart’s interior appears remarkably featureless-possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.
Jul 14, 2015 by News Staff

After a journey of nine and a half years through the Solar System, New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto today, about 7,750 miles (12,470 km) above the dwarf planet’s surface. Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 km) from the dwarf planet’s surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s...

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This image of Pluto from New Horizons was received on July 8, 2015, and has been combined with color information from the spacecraft’s Ralph instrument. The image was taken on July 7, when New Horizons was 5 million miles (8 million km) from the dwarf planet. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Watch Live on NASA TV: New Horizons Pluto Flyby

Jul 14, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons will complete a close flyby of Pluto today at 7:49 a.m. EST (4:49 a.m. PST, 11:49 a.m. GMT, 1:49 p.m. CET, 5:19 p.m. IST, 9:49 p.m....

Chasms, craters, and a dark north polar region are revealed in this image of Pluto’s largest moon Charon taken by New Horizons on July 11, 2015. The annotated version includes a diagram showing Charon’s north pole, equator, and central meridian, with the features highlighted. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Latest Image of Pluto’s Moon Charon from New Horizons

Jul 13, 2015 by News Staff

A new image of the largest of Pluto’s five known moons shows various craters and chasms (canyons). Chasms, craters, and a dark north polar region are...

This image of Pluto reveals intriguing geologic details that are of keen interest to New Horizons team members. This image, taken early the morning of July 11, 2015, shows newly-resolved linear features above the equatorial region that intersect, suggestive of polygonal shapes. This image was captured when the spacecraft was 2.5 million miles (4 million km) from Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Ready for Historic Pluto Flyby

Jul 13, 2015 by News Staff

After a journey of nine and a half years and three billion miles, NASA’s New Horizons is ready for a close look at the dwarf planet Pluto and its five...

New Horizons was about 3.7 million miles (6 million km) from Charon when it snapped this image on July 8, 2015. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Snaps New Image of Pluto’s Moon Charon

Jul 10, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons space probe, which will do a close flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, has sent back a new image of Charon, the largest of Pluto’s...

This image of Pluto from New Horizons was received on July 8, 2015, and has been combined with color information from the spacecraft’s Ralph instrument. The image was taken on July 7, when New Horizons was 5 million miles (8 million km) from the dwarf planet. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Latest Image of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons

Jul 9, 2015 by News Staff

The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has snapped yet another amazing view of the dwarf planet. This image...

This map of the dwarf planet Pluto was created from images taken from June 27 to July 3 by New Horizons’ LORRI instrument, combined with color data from the space probe’s Ralph instrument. The center of the map corresponds to Pluto’s side that will be seen close-up during New Horizons’ July 14 flyby. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Scientists Create Color Map of Pluto

Jul 8, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists with NASA’s New Horizons mission have produced a color map of the dwarf planet Pluto. This map of the dwarf planet Pluto was created from...

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft obtained this image on 01 July 2015 from a distance of 7.8 million miles (12.5 million km), prior to the July 4 anomaly that sent the probe into safe mode. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Mission Releases Color Photo of Dwarf Planet Pluto

Jul 7, 2015 by News Staff

A new color image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows a series of striking dark regularly-spaced spots along Pluto’s equator. NASA’s New Horizons...

New Horizons mission’s first map of the dwarf planet Pluto is in approximate true color. Left: map of the planet’s northern hemisphere composed using black-and-white images from the LORRI instrument. Right: map of Pluto’s colors created using data from the Ralph instrument. Center: combined map, produced by merging the LORRI and Ralph data. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Another Red Planet? New Horizons Data Reveal True Color of Pluto

Jul 6, 2015 by News Staff

Planetary researchers involved in NASA’s New Horizons mission combined the latest black and white map of Pluto’s surface features with a map of the...

Rosetta NavCam image taken on 14 March 2015 at 85.7 km from the center of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko; it has been cleaned to remove the more obvious bad pixels and cosmic ray artefacts, and intensities have been scaled. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Could Harbor Alien Life, Say UK Scientists

Jul 6, 2015 by News Staff

Two planetary scientists from the UK – Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe of the Buckingham Center for Astrobiology and Dr Max Wallis of the University...

This family portrait, a composite of the Pluto system, includes the dwarf planet and its five known moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Captures Family Portrait of Pluto System

Jul 3, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has taken an amazing photo of Pluto and its five moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos. This family portrait,...

New images show two very different faces of Pluto, one with a series of strange spots. About half of the dwarf planet is imaged, which means features shown near the bottom are at the equatorial line. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Scientists Release New Color Images of Pluto, Charon

Jul 2, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists with NASA’s New Horizons mission have combined black-and-white images of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, from New Horizons’ LORRI imager...

Active pits on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Image credit: Jean-Baptiste Vincent et al.

ESA’s Rosetta Sees Active Pits on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Jul 2, 2015 by News Staff

In a new study published online in the journal Nature, 18 almost circular pits have been identified in the northern hemisphere of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko....

An artist’s concept of Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Detects Frozen Methane on Pluto

Jul 1, 2015 by News Staff

Using data from Ralph, a visible and infrared imager/spectrometer aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, scientists have detected frozen methane on the...

Acquired on 27 June 2015, this first image from Sentinel-2A covers the Po Valley, framed by the Alps in the north and the coastal mountains of France and Italy in the south. The stripes observed over water are expected artifacts due to the arrangement of the detectors in the Sentinel-2A’s MSI instrument. Image credit: Copernicus data / ESA.

ESA’s Sentinel-2A Satellite Returns Its First Color Images of Earth

Jun 30, 2015 by News Staff

Just four days after being lofted into orbit, European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2A satellite delivered its first images of Earth. Acquired on 27 June...

A close-up of the bright spots on Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dawn Captures Rare Image of Ceres’ Bright Spots at Dusk

Jun 30, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has beamed back a new photo of a cluster of bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres. The space probe took this image...

This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 16, 2015. The bright rings of Saturn can be seen at left. North on Dione is up and rotated 44 degrees to the left. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures Stunning Images of Dione

Jun 26, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini probe obtained new images of Saturn’s moon Dione during a close flyby on June 16, 2015. This image was taken in visible light with the...

This false-color image of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by the Rosetta navigation camera on 15 June 2015 from a distance of 207 km from the comet center. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

ESA’s Rosetta Orbiter to Land on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Jun 24, 2015 by News Staff

Rosetta’s nominal mission was originally funded until the end of this year, but at a meeting yesterday, the European Space Agency has given formal approval...

Map of MAVEN’s auroral detections in December 2014 overlaid on the surface of Mars: the map shows that the aurora was widespread in the northern hemisphere, not tied to any geographic location. Image credit: University of Colorado.

MAVEN Sheds New Light on Atmosphere of Mars

Jun 24, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft has observed three phenomena in the atmosphere of Mars: a polar plume of escaping atmospheric...

This image shows Saturn’s moons Titan, Mimas (center bottom) and Rhea (upper left). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Triple Crescents: Cassini Captures Incredible Image of Three of Saturn’s Moons

Jun 23, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has captured a rare family photo of three of Saturn’s moons: Titan, Mimas and Rhea. This image shows Saturn’s moons Titan,...

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