Planets

Mars

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures a Martian Day, From Dawn to Dusk

Videos from the rover show its shadow moving across the Martian surface during a 12-hour sequence while Curiosity remained parked. When NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover isn’t on the move, it works pretty well as a sundial, as seen in two black-and-white videos recorded on Nov. 8, the 4,002nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. […]

Posted December 28, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Planets

The Solar System

Uranus

Uranus Moons

Ringing in the Holidays

The ice giant Uranus and its rings steal the show in this Dec. 18, 2023, image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope captured new images of Uranus, revealing detailed features of the planet’s rings and seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap. […]

Posted December 26, 2023

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Missions

Planets

Rings of Saturn

Saturn

The Solar System

NASA’s Hubble Watches ‘Spoke Season’ on Saturn

This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble’s ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn’s spokes are transient features that rotate along with the rings.

Posted December 21, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Goddard Space Flight Center

Missions

Planets

The Solar System

Uranus

Uranus Moons

NASA’s Webb Rings in Holidays With Ringed Planet Uranus

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently trained its sights on unusual and enigmatic Uranus, an ice giant that spins on its side. Webb captured this dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, and other atmospheric features – including a seasonal polar cap.

Posted December 18, 2023

Asteroids

Jupiter

Mars

Pioneer

Pioneer 10

Planets

The Solar System

Pioneer 10 Crosses the Asteroid Belt

This illustration made on Nov. 26, 1974, by Rick Giudice shows the Pioneer 10 spacecraft traveling through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. At the time, it was uncertain whether it would traverse it safely since the density of particles large enough to damage the craft was […]

Posted December 4, 2023

Mariner 3

Mariner 4

Mars

Planets

The Solar System

A Miniature Mariner-C

A model of the Mariner-C spacecraft seems to float in the darkness of space in this photo from a June 1964 Conference on New Technology at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Mariner-C and Mariner-D were identical spacecraft designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to fly by Mars and photograph the Martian surface. Mariner-C was […]

Posted November 28, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Exoplanets

Goddard Space Flight Center

Planets

Webb Follows Neon Signs Toward New Thinking on Planet Formation

Scientists are following neon signs in a search for clues to one planetary system’s future and the past of another – our own solar system.

Posted November 15, 2023

Juno

Europa

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Jupiter

Jupiter Moons

Planets

The Solar System

NASA’s Juno Finds Jupiter’s Winds Penetrate in Cylindrical Layers

The finding offers deeper insights into the long-debated internal structure of the gas giant. Gravity data collected by NASA’s Juno mission indicates Jupiter’s atmospheric winds penetrate the planet in a cylindrical manner, parallel to its spin axis. A paper on the findings was recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Posted November 9, 2023

Hubble Space Telescope

Jupiter

Planets

The Solar System

Hubble Provides Unique Ultraviolet View of Jupiter

This newly released image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the […]

Posted November 3, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Goddard Space Flight Center

Jupiter

Planetary Science

Planets

The Solar System

NASA’s Webb Discovers New Feature in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Narrow jet stream near equator has winds traveling 320 miles per hour NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new, never-before-seen feature in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The high-speed jet stream, which spans more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) wide, sits over Jupiter’s equator above the main cloud decks.

Posted October 19, 2023