Tag Archive for 'Solar System'

A close-up of the canyons on Charon, taken by New Horizons’ LORRI instrument during the spacecraft’s close approach to the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. When New Horizons took this image, a distance of 48,900 miles (78,700 km) separated the spacecraft and Charon. The image measures 240 miles (386 km) long and 110 miles (175 km) wide. Multiple views taken by the spacecraft as it passed by the Pluto’s largest moon allow stereo measurements of topography, shown in the color-coded version of the image. The scale bar indicates relative elevation. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Charon May Have Had Subsurface Water Ocean

Feb 19, 2016 by News Staff

Images taken by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) instrument on board NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft suggest that Charon once had an underground...

Geologic map of Pluto’s famous heart-shaped region, Sputnik Planum. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Scientists Create Geologic Map of Pluto’s Big Heart

Feb 16, 2016 by News Staff

NASA scientists have produced this geologic map of one of Pluto’s most dominant features from images taken by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance...

This image shows the Saturn’s icy moon Tethys. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Captures Breathtaking View of Saturn’s Moon Tethys

Feb 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

This image, captured by Cassini’s wide-angle camera, was photographed when the mission was 40,000 miles (65,000 km) from Tethys, and Saturn and its rings...

Saturn’s B ring is the brightest and most opaque of the gas giant’s main rings, appearing almost black in this Cassini image taken from the unlit side of the ringplane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s B Ring Surprises Planetary Scientists

Feb 5, 2016 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the United States has found surprisingly little correlation between how dense a Saturn’s ring might appear to be...

LEISA data point to more prevalent water ice on the surface of Pluto than previously thought. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Relatively Large Amounts of Water Ice Found on Pluto’s Surface

Feb 2, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons science team used data from the Ralph/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) — a short-wavelength, IR, spectral imager...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Scientists use false color to examine differences in surface materials. The color blue on Ceres is generally associated with bright material, found in more than 130 locations, and seems to be consistent with salts. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Colorful Animation Shows Simulated Flight over Dwarf Planet Ceres

Jan 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

This breathtaking animation, produced by a team of scientists at the German Aerospace Center, shows a simulated flight over the surface of Ceres, based...

This New Horizons image shows the night side of Charon. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

First-Ever Look at Charon’s Night Side

Jan 26, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s New Horizons robotic probe captured this image of the night side of Charon on July 17, 2015, nearly three days after closest approach to the Pluto...

Planet Nine: Astronomers Uncover Evidence for mini-Neptune in Outer Solar System

Jan 21, 2016 by News Staff

A team of astronomers at the California Institute of Technology has found strong evidence of a massive gaseous planet – informally named Planet Nine...

This image, taken by the New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015, shows a possible cryovolcano on Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Beams Back Image of Possible Cryovolcano on Pluto’s Surface

Jan 15, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has sent back a beautiful image of one of two potential cryovolcanoes spotted on the surface of Pluto. This image, taken...

This image, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, shows Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Beams Back Stunning Image of Saturn

Jan 11, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter has sent an amazing picture of Saturn, one of the Solar System’s gas giants. This image, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft,...

This image of Ceres, taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on December 10, 2015, shows a crater chain called Gerber Catena. The space probe took the image in its low-altitude mapping orbit (LAMO) from a distance of 240 miles from Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Beams Back Closest Images Ever Seen from Dwarf Planet Ceres

Dec 29, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took these images of the dwarf planet Ceres on December 10, 2015, at an altitude of around 240 miles (385 km), which is its lowest-ever...

Saturn’s small moon Phoebe, depicted in this image, seems likely to be a centaur that was captured by the gas giant’s gravity at some time in the past. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Outer Solar System’s Massive Comets Could Pose Hazard to Civilization, Scientists Say

Dec 23, 2015 by News Staff

The discovery of hundreds of huge comets in the outer Solar System over the last 20 years means that these ancient objects pose a real hazard to our civilization,...

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Makes Final Visit to Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

Dec 22, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter made a close flyby of Enceladus on December 19, the last targeted Enceladus encounter of the mission. This unprocessed...

This panchromatic image of Pluto’s small moon Nix was taken on July 14, from a distance of 14,000 miles. The illuminated surface is about 12 x 29 miles (19 x 47 km). Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Sends Back Best Images Yet of Pluto’s Small Moon Nix

Dec 20, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has beamed back the highest definition images of Nix yet. This panchromatic image of Pluto’s small moon Nix was taken...

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 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 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...

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