Space Exploration News

New Views of Pluto’s Moon Charon Reveal Mysterious ‘Dark Pole’

These images, taken by New Horizons’ LORRI camera on June 18, 2015, show the discovery of significant surface details on Charon. The image on the left is the original image, displayed at four times the native LORRI image size. After applying the deconvolution technique, details become visible on the icy moon, including a distinct dark pole. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.
Jun 23, 2015 by News Staff

Using new images from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, planetary scientists have discovered that Charon has a ‘dark pole,’ an intriguing dark region that forms a kind of anti-polar cap. These images, taken by New Horizons’ LORRI camera on June 18, 2015, show the discovery of significant surface details on Charon. The image on the left is the original image, displayed at four times the native LORRI...

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A cluster of bright spots can be seen in this image. The image was captured on June 9, 2015, when Dawn was nearly 2,700 miles (4,400 km) from the dwarf planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dawn Captures New Images of Ceres’ Mystery Features

Jun 23, 2015 by News Staff

New pictures from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft show a cluster of mysterious bright spots and a pyramid-shaped peak on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres. A...

Planetary Scientists Shed Light on Origins of Lakes on Titan

Jun 22, 2015 by News Staff

The surface of Titan – the largest moon of Saturn – dissolves in a similar process that creates sinkholes on our planet, says a team of scientists...

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

NASA Probe Beams Back New Color Images of Pluto, Charon

Jun 22, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons has beamed back color pictures of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. An artist’s concept of Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns...

Artist’s impression of a volcano erupting on Venus. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.

Planetary Scientists Detect New Signs of Active Volcanoes on Venus

Jun 19, 2015 by News Staff

By looking at data from the monitoring camera on ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft, planetary researchers found transient spikes in temperature at several...

Researchers Discover Earth-Like Polar Winds on Titan

Jun 19, 2015 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr Andrew Coates of University College London, UK, has found that the interactions between the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon...

Artist’s concept shows a simulated view from the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Enters Development Stage

Jun 18, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Europa Clipper – a future mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa – has completed its first major review by the agency and now is entering...

Moon. Image credit: Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Discover Permanent Dust Cloud around Moon

Jun 17, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of scientists led by Prof Mihaly Horanyi of the University of Colorado Boulder, the Moon is engulfed in a permanent but asymmetric...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Martian Ocean May Never Have Existed

Jun 17, 2015 by News Staff

A new study published online in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets suggests that a frigid, icy planet 3 – 4 billion years ago better...

A meteorite from the Red Planet. Image credit: Michael Helfenbein.

Researchers Discover Traces of Methane in Meteorites from Mars

Jun 16, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of scientists led by Dr Nigel Blamey of Brock University and the University of Aberdeen, UK, has found methane in fragments of Martian...

By combining radio-wave data exchanged between Rosetta and Philae as part of the CONSERT experiment with trajectory data and the current model of the shape of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the location of the lander has been determined to lie within an ellipse measuring approximately 16 x 160 m. The CONSERT ellipse corresponds to the outer limits of the various solutions identified for the likely landing site of Philae, although this depends to some extent on the shape model assumed. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / Philae / CONSERT / MPS for OSIRIS Team / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA.

Rosetta’s Philae Lander Wake-Up Kicks Off Intense Activity

Jun 16, 2015 by News Staff

The European Space Agency (ESA) and its Rosetta mission partners are working to juggle the spacecraft’s flight plan to help with renewed Philae lander...

Cassini spacecraft has recently provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's north pole. The hurricane's eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI)

Saturn’s Polar Cyclones Feed on Small Thunderstorms, New Study Says

Jun 16, 2015 by News Staff

Huge polar hurricanes on Saturn are a puzzling phenomenon, since the gaseous planet lacks an essential ingredient for brewing up such hurricanes –...

This artist’s concept shows two MarCO CubeSats and the Mars lander InSight. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Two CubeSats Will Accompany NASA’s InSight Lander to Mars in 2016

Jun 15, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s two small Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats will be flying past Mars in 2016 just as the agency’s next Mars lander, InSight (Interior Exploration...

The Philae lander at work on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.

ESA’s Philae Lander Phones Home after 7-Month Silence

Jun 14, 2015 by News Staff

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Philae lander has woken up after seven months in hibernation on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The Philae...

These images show four different ‘faces’ of the dwarf planet Pluto as it rotates about its axis with a period of 6.4 days. From left to right, the images were taken when Pluto’s central longitude was 17, 63, 130, and 243 degrees, respectively. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Views of Pluto Captured by New Horizons

Jun 12, 2015 by News Staff

NASA has just released a set of images of the dwarf planet Pluto taken by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager during May 29 – June 2,...

The X2.2-class flare, March 11, 2015. Image credit: SDO / NASA.

New Tool Could Predict Earth-Directed Coronal Mass Ejections Day in Advance

Jun 11, 2015 by News Staff

A new measurement and modeling tool could give more than 24 hours’ notice of coronal mass ejections that could be harmful to systems on Earth. New tool...

The bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres are seen in this image taken by Dawn on June 6, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dawn Shoots New Close-Up of Ceres’ Bright Spots

Jun 11, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn mission scientists have just released a new close-up image of mysterious bright spots on the crater-pocked surface of Ceres. This is among...

This view of Tethys was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on April 11, 2015. The crater Odysseus is seen at the right of the image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures Stunning View of Saturn’s Moon Tethys

Jun 10, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has returned a spectacular new image of Tethys, a small, icy moon of Saturn. This view of Tethys was taken by NASA’s Cassini...

Deposits of impact glass have been preserved in Martian craters, including Alga Crater, shown here. In color coding based on analysis of data from the CRISM instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, green indicates the presence of glass; blues are pyroxene; reds are olivine. This view shows Alga Crater’s central peak, which is about 3 miles (5 km) wide within the 12-mile (19-km) diameter of this southern-hemisphere crater. The information from CRISM is shown over a terrain model and image based on observations by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. The vertical dimension is exaggerated by a factor of two. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / JHUAPL / University of Arizona.

Scientists Detect Large Deposits of Impact Glass on Mars

Jun 9, 2015 by News Staff

Glasses formed by asteroid impacts are an important target to search for signs of ancient life on Mars, but until now they have not been detected on the...

This image of an impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars was taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 30, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Alfred McEwen.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Beams Back Close-Up Photo of Fresh Crater

Jun 8, 2015 by News Staff

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured an impressive picture of a fresh...

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