Tag Archive for 'Planet'

MAVEN is exploring Mars’ upper atmosphere in detail to understand how Mars changed from a wet planet early in its history to the cold, dry world we see today. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

MAVEN Detects Metal Ions in Martian Atmosphere

Apr 11, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has made the first detection of the continuous presence of iron, magnesium, and sodium...

Hubble Space Telescope Observes Jupiter at Opposition

Apr 7, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the Solar System’s largest planet on April 3, 2017 — just days before it is in opposition on April...

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.

Cassini Gets Ready for ‘Grand Finale’ Phase

Apr 6, 2017 by News Staff

After 20 years in space and 13 years around Saturn, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration and discoveries:...

This is a composite image of the giant planet Uranus by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft and two different observations made by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (one for Uranus’ ring system and one for the planet’s auroras). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Lamy.

Stunning New Views of Uranus’ Auroras

Apr 3, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of astronomers has captured new images of auroras above the gas giant Uranus. This is a composite image of the giant planet Uranus...

Part of Jupiter’s ‘string of pearls.’ Juno captured this image with its JunoCam instrument on March 27, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Completes Fifth Jupiter Flyby

Mar 29, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully completed its fifth flyby of the gas giant Jupiter on March 27, 2017. Part of Jupiter’s ‘string of pearls.’...

Every discovered planet in the Solar System under 10,000 km in diameter, to scale. The geophysical definition of planet includes 110 known planets. Image credit: Emily Lakdawalla, Planetary Society / K.D. Runyon et al.

Planet Count May Reach 110

Mar 21, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Kirby Runyon, a PhD candidate in planetary geology at the Johns Hopkins University, and co-authors are proposing to rewrite the textbooks to say that the...

This is a three-color composite image of Saturn and its rings taken January 23, 2008 with the COMICS instrument on the Subaru Telescope. The Cassini Division and the C ring appear bright. Color differences reflect the temperatures; the warmer part is blue, the cooler part is red. Image credit: NAOJ.

Researchers Measure Brightness, Temperatures of Saturn’s Main Rings

Mar 2, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using mid-infrared data from the 8.2-m Subaru Telescope, a research team led by Dr. Hideaki Fujiwara, Subaru scientist at the National Astronomical Observatory...

This image of the object F16QA was obtained using Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on Feb. 5, 2017, at a distance of 610,000 miles (982,000 km) from the F ring. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Orbiter Spots Two Small Objects in Saturn’s F Ring

Feb 28, 2017 by News Staff

As Cassini continues its ring-grazing orbits, diving just past the outside of Saturn’s F ring, the outermost discrete ring of the planet, it is tracking...

A large pit valley in Lucaya crater, Mars: (a) exposure of putative crossbeds on windward slope of dunes, and (b) interdune strata exposed in planform showing contrasting albedo and crosscutting relationships similar to that exposed in the dune. Image credit: M.C. Bourke & H.A. Viles.

Researchers Uncover New Evidence for Water on Ancient Mars

Feb 19, 2017 by News Staff

Dr. Mary Bourke from Trinity College Dublin and University of Oxford Professor Heather Viles have discovered a patch of land in an equatorial crater on...

This composite image showing Jupiter (center) and three of its moons -- Callisto (left), Io, and Ganymede -- was taken by OSIRIS-REx’s PolyCam instrument. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona.

OSIRIS-REx Takes Its First Images of Jupiter and Galilean Moons

Feb 17, 2017 by News Staff

During asteroid search operations, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft snapped several images of Jupiter and its Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. This...

This artist’s concept depicts the early Martian environment (right) -- believed to contain liquid water and a thicker atmosphere -- versus the cold, dry environment seen at Mars today (left). Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Did Ancient Martian Volcanism Provide the Sunblock to Get Life Going?

Feb 8, 2017 by James Romero

Intense volcanism early in Mars history could have aided the emergence of life on the red planet through filtering out harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation...

Cyclones swirl around the south pole, and white oval storms can be seen near the limb -- the apparent edge of the planet -- in this image of Jupiter’s south polar region taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The image was acquired on February 2, 2017, from an altitude of 47,600 miles (76,600 km) above Jupiter’s swirling cloud deck. Prior to the Feb. 2 flyby, the public was invited to vote for their favorite points of interest in the Jovian atmosphere for JunoCam to image. The point of interest captured here was titled ‘Jovian Antarctica’ by a member of the public, in reference to Earth’s Antarctica. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Completes Its Fourth Flyby of Jupiter

Feb 4, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully completed a close flyby of Jupiter on February 2, 2017. Cyclones swirl around the south pole, and white oval storms...

Earth-Moon System as Seen from Mars Orbit

Jan 9, 2017 by News Staff

This image composite combines the best Earth image with the best Moon image from four sets of images acquired on November 20, 2016, by the High Resolution...

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

More Evidence for Warm, Wet Early Mars

Dec 27, 2016 by News Staff

A study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets provides new evidence for a warm early Mars that hosted water across a geologically long...

Hubble’s view of Jupiter. Image credit: NASA.

Teasing Out the Secrets beneath Jupiter’s Cloud Tops

Dec 17, 2016 by James Romero

As NASA’s Juno probe makes its closest flyby of the gas giant, new research from France’s space agency could help make more sense of the data it sends...

Jupiter’s ‘pearl.’ Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Completes Its Third Jupiter Flyby

Dec 14, 2016 by News Staff

On Dec. 11, 2016, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully completed its third flyby over Jupiter’s mysterious cloud tops. Jupiter’s ‘pearl.’ Image...

A giant of a moon appears before a giant of a planet undergoing seasonal changes in this natural color view of Titan and Saturn from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI.

Saturn’s Moons May Be Younger than Previously Thought

Dec 7, 2016 by News Staff

New data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturn’s moons may be younger than previously thought. A giant of a moon appears before a giant...

Star of Bethlehem May Not Have Been Star After All, Says Astrophysicist

Dec 2, 2016 by News Staff

Grant Mathews, professor of theoretical astrophysics and cosmology in the University of Notre Dame’s College of Science, believes the event that led...

Using colorized topography, Mercury’s ‘great valley’ (dark blue) and Rembrandt impact basin (purple, upper right) are revealed in this high-resolution digital elevation model merged with an image mosaic obtained by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington / DLR / Smithsonian Institution.

Planetary Researchers Spot ‘Great Valley’ on Mercury

Nov 17, 2016 by News Staff

Using images from NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft, planetary researchers have discovered a...

The north polar region of Saturn is pictured in great detail in this Cassini image obtained on July 16, 2016 from a range of one million miles (2 million km). The image was taken with Cassini’s wide-angle camera using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nm. The view looks toward the sunlit side of Saturn’s rings from about 41 degrees above the ring plane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s North Polar Region Revealed

Nov 15, 2016 by News Staff

New near-infrared images of Saturn from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft show the northern polar region including the hexagon and polar vortex. The north polar...

«‹34 353637 38 ›»